Heroes come home
Cops shot saving Qns. woman get to feast with fams
Two NYPD officers wounded in a Queens shootout had Thanksgiving wishes come true Thursday when they left the hospital to raucous applause from fellow cops, family and friends.
Officers Joseph Murphy and Christopher Wells were wheeled out of Jamaica Hospital to a crowd of supporters, covered in bandages but otherwise upbeat.
“We are just so grateful these officers are going to be able to get home, sit on the couch and watch some football with their beautiful families,” said NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Wells suffered a fractured femur and Murphy was struck in both hands during the wild Tuesday afternoon shootout in Springfield Gardens with CUNY peace officer Rondell Goppy.
The gunfire erupted when the two cops tried to escort Goppy’s wife home from the 105th Precinct stationhouse.
Sharon Goppy, 41, showed up at the station Tuesday morning and told cops her husband choked her the night before during an argument over infidelity, authorities said.
Wells and Murphy took the woman back to her 179th St. home near 145th Drive so she could pack her belongings and go to her sister’s house, where the couple’s two children were already staying.
Rondell Goppy, also 41, barged in about six minutes later and opened fire. His wife retreated to the basement as both cops returned fire, hitting Goppy six times, killing him.
Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday that Sharon Goppy would have been killed if the officers weren’t there.
“Today they saved that woman’s life,” the mayor said. “I want to be crystal clear — because those cops were there, that woman is alive.”
It’s not yet clear if Murphy, whose two hands were heavily bandaged, will recover full strength in his hands. But that didn’t dampen the spirits of the 105th Precinct domestic violence officers or their loved ones.
“We are just happy he’s home, and we’re just trying to celebrate Thanksgiving as a family,” Murphy’s relatives said at their Oyster Bay, L.I., house.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said it was “especially joyful” to see the two officers head home.
Lynch asked New Yorkers to be thankful for “the women and men that stand behind me and keep us all safe and protect each and every one of us not only on this holiday but every day.”
One man, who declined to share his name, was so moved by the cops’ recovery that he drove all the way from Freehold, N.J., to pay his respects.
“This is something special,” said the teary-eyed man, who said his father was a cop. “They [police] get a bad rap all the time, and I know that some of them are — but not all of them.”
There were several past domestic incidents at the Goppy home, police said. In July, authorities took Rondell Goppy’s three registered guns away because he talked about killing himself.
He got his guns back in September after he was cleared by two doctors, a police official said.