New York Police Detective Killed by 'Friendly Fire' While Responding to Armed Robbery

NEW YORK -- In a tragic case of friendly fire, an NYPD detective was shot and killed, and a sergeant wounded, Tuesday night in a hail of police bullets triggered by a robber at a Queens cell phone store — wielding what turned out to be a fake gun, authorities said.

Detective Brian Simonsen and Sgt. Matthew Gorman of the 102 Precinct were responding to reports of an armed robbery at a T-Mobile cell phone store at Atlantic Ave. and 121st St. in Richmond Hill at around 6:15 p.m.

Simonsen, 42, whose 19-year anniversary of service would have been March 1, and Gorman entered the store and were confronted by a suspect with what appeared to be a gun, Commissioner James O’Neil said at a press conference Tuesday night.

Simonsen and Gorman opened fire on the suspect, and as they retreated from the store, they were struck by bullets from cops outside, O’Neill said.

Simonsen was fatally shot in the chest and Gorman was hit in the hip.

“Make no mistake about it — friendly fire aside, it is because of the actions of the suspect that Detective Simonsen is dead,” said O’Neill, who appeared near tears.

“We lost a very good man,” Mayor Bill de Blasio added.

O’Neill said the 27-year-old suspect was “a career criminal” who was shot multiple times. He was in critical condition at New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital.

The suspect — identified as Christopher Ransom of Crown Heights, Brooklyn by police sources — was wanted for a phone store robbery last month in Jamaica, Queens. Sources said he goes by the street name “Detective.”

Simonsen, the first line-of-duty fatality since 2017, leaves behind a wife and two children.

Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, said Simonsen didn’t have to show up for work Tuesday.

“He was the kind of fellow that led by example, not by words,” Palladino said. “Led by actions. He didn’t have to be at work today. Because he’s the delegate in the 102nd Detective Squad and today was the delegate’s meeting this morning, he was actually excused from duty.

“But we had this (robbery) pattern going. And he felt compelled to go to the delegate’s meeting … and go to work. And that’s why we are here tonight.”

One witness told the Daily News that before cops arrived, the suspect, dressed in black, could be seen forcing two employees to the back of the store holding what looked like a gun. As cops arrived within minutes, the robbery erupted in chaos.

Officers frantically called for help as more than 50 shots were discharged, sources said.

“Shots fired! Shots fired!” one officer can be heard screaming on emergency radio transmissions. “Central, he’s in the store. He’s going to the back. … He’s still in the store, central. He’s still in the store.”

At another point, a voice believed to belong to Gorman, radios: “Be advised, I’m shot. The perp’s in the location.”

Neighborhood resident Jason Parodi was stunned when he walked up to the deadly scene.

“The police officers were yelling and after that they started shooting,” he told The News. “There were five or six shots, then there were 10 or 11 shots.”

“There was so much gunfire you could smell the smoke in the air,” he added.

Arwin Singh, 31, a construction contractor who lives across from the T-Mobile store, told The News there were at least 15 to 20 shots.

“I thought, ‘Who plays with firecrackers in the rain?’ ” he said. “I looked out and the cops were running into (the store) to get them. There were two guys who put their hands on their heads. I couldn’t tell if they were robbers or workers. Then the cops came out and put one guy in an ambulance.”

“It’s crazy,” he added. “The store has been robbed before but nothing as bad as this.”

Neighbor Manny Singh agreed the store has been a magnet for robbers.

“They were so close to our house,” Singh said. “It was terrifying.”

Dozens of stunned and grieving police officers rushed to nearby Jamaica Hospital, where Simonsen died and Gorman was being treated. Inside the packed lobby, cops were seen hugging and crying. A grim-faced de Blasio arrived at the hospital about an hour after the shooting.

A Simonsen relative, who asked not to be identified, said the cop “was always known as Smiles. That’s what people call him.”

“He was a good person. You’d smile when you’re around him.

“It’s very devastating,” he added. “I still can’t get over why. I know it happens, but it shouldn’t. It’s just a tragic loss.”

Gorman’s grandmother, Cecilia Gorman, told The News in a phone interview from her Brooklyn home that “I spoke to him and he’s doing well.”

“He didn’t go into detail,” she added. “He just called to let me know that he’s OK.”

This is the second friendly fire incident for the NYPD in three months. In December, Staten Island cop Amir Pali, 26, was wounded by his partner during a confrontation with a man armed with a large knife.

The last NYPD officer gunned down in the line of duty was Detective Miosotis Familia, who was shot three times in the head while sitting inside a mobile command center in the Bronx in July 2017. Her assassin, Alexander Bonds, was shot and killed by responding officers.

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