NY detective killed by friendly fire
Police responding to robbery led to gunfire
NEW YORK — A New York City police detective was shot and killed by friendly fire Tuesday night while responding to a report of a gunpoint robbery at a cellphone store, Commissioner James O’Neill said.
“This appears to be an absolutely tragic case of friendly fire,” an emotional O’Neill said at a late-night news conference.
Det. Brian Simonsen, 42, was struck in the chest as multiple officers fired on the suspect at a T-Mobile store in Queens, O’Neill said. Simonsen, a 19-year NYPD veteran, was put in a squad car and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Sgt. Matthew Gorman was shot in the leg, O’Neill said. A passerby stopped and drove him to the hospital in his car. He is in stable condition.
The suspect, a 27-year-old man with an extensive criminal record, was armed with an imitation firearm, O’Neill said. He was wounded and is hospitalized in stable condition.
Police swarmed to the store around 6:10 p.m. after a 911 caller standing outside reported seeing the suspect — dressed in all black and carrying a duffel bag — take two employees to a back room at gunpoint, according to dramatic dispatch audio.
“No sirens, guys,” a dispatcher warns.
Simonsen and Gorman were working on another case nearby when the call came over and they arrived around the same time as other officers, O’Neill said. At first, the front of the store appeared empty, he said.
Then a man matching the suspect’s description emerged from the rear of the store pointing at them what appeared to be handgun and police started shooting, he said.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” an officer is heard yelling on the dispatch audio over a barrage of gunshots.
About a minute later, the sergeant tells dispatchers that he’s been hit and an officer screams for dispatchers to rush an ambulance to the scene.