LIKE THE WILD WEST
NYPD brass probe friendly-fire fiasco as kin mourn detective
The lethal confrontation lasted less than a minute, with 42 shots fired in one 11-second stretch by seven city cops.
When the gunsmoke outside a Queens store literally cleared, a decorated NYPD detective was mortally wounded by friendly fire and police officials were left Wednesday to sift through the aftermath of a cop’s worst nightmare: Accidentally killing a brother officer.
Slain Detective Brian Simonsen, a 19-year veteran widely admired by colleagues and friends, was not wearing a bulletproof vest at 6:12 p.m. Tuesday when the shooting erupted suddenly at a TMobile outlet store in Richmond Hill, officials said.
One police source indicated the body cam video taken from five of the officers on the scene captured a chaotic scene where bullets were fired frantically — and randomly.
“You don’t want to see that footage,” said the source. “It was like the Wild West out there. From the cameras, you can’t even see who they are shooting at.”
Simonsen, 42, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, an autopsy determined. His decision to not wear a vest ignored NYPD protocol, and may have cost the cop from the 102nd Precinct his life. A police source said detectives often don’t wear their vests while doing nonenforcement work. "You have the vest off, 99% of the time nothing happens,” the source said.
It was unclear which of his fellow officers squeezed off the deadly round, killing the upbeat detective known to friends as “Smiles.” City officials promised a full review of what went wrong after cops answered a 911 call about a robbery.
“Everything happens in seconds. It goes from zero to 60 (mph),” said NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan. “Your adrenaline is high. It’s horrible. … You’re reacting to something happening very fast.”
Eight cops, including Simonsen and his partner Sgt. Matthew Gorman, arrived at the scene just seconds apart to find suspect Christopher Ransom inside the store, armed with what turned out to be a fake handgun.
The robber charged “very aggressive” toward the cops, pointed the “weapon” at the officers and feigned shooting — even recoiling his arm as if the gun had fired to set off the gunfire barely 30 seconds after cops arrived, according to sources.
Ransom, 27, was hospital-