NYPD worker slain, neighbor hurt in shoot
An NYPD civilian employee was shot in her Queens apartment Monday morning and later died, police said.
The suspect, a 55-year-old man believed to have a romantic connection to the 51-year-old victim, fled the scene but not before shooting and badly wounding a neighbor who heard the commotion and ran to see what had happened, police said.
NYPD Deputy Chief Julie Morrill, who supervises detectives in northern Queens, said the violence erupted about 8:15 a.m., when officers responded to a 911 call about shots fired in a third-floor apartment on Fresh Pond Road near Palmetto St. in Ridgewood.
The NYPD employee, Morrill said, had been shot in the head.
“During the dispute, the 48-year-old second-floor neighbor went to check on the third-floor occupant,” Morrill said. “She was then shot and fled back to her apartment. The male suspect followed her and continued shooting.”
Medics rushed both victims to Jamaica Hosptial, where the NYPD employee died at 11:22 a.m. The neighbor, struck in the upper body, was listed in critical condition.
The murder victim’s name was not immediately released, but Morrill said she had been with the department 11 years and worked at 1 Police Plaza for the Information Technology Bureau.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell and First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban visited with relatives who rushed to the hospital.
Morrill said the dead woman and the suspect had not been the subject of prior domestic violence incidents.
The motive for the shooting was not yet clear. The apartment door suffered damage, possibly from a fired shot, and there were shell casings found in the hallway and the stairwell, she said.
“We were working,” said Alejandro Brito, 44, a cook at a bagel shop across the street. “Everything was so quiet, then suddenly the police cars come in.”
“When I came outside I looked across the street, and all I saw was this lady. They were carrying her to the hospital. She was bleeding and everything. I got scared because she was pale.”