By Kerry Burke, Rocco Parascandola and Roni Jacobson
Source New York Daily News
An NYPD officer was shot in the leg in Queens on Tuesday night during a wild shootout with a suspect in a string of nearby robberies, police said Tuesday.
The suspect, Gary Worthy, 57, was shot in the head and died at the scene, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a press conference Tuesday night. Cops recovered his gun, which he used to intimidate his robbery victims before using it to shoot the police officer, he added.
NYPD officer Rich Wong first confronted the suspect around 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Jamaica Ave. and 164th St. in Jamaica after he noticed the man fit the description of a suspect who had just robbed two stores in the area at gunpoint, Kenny said.
About an hour beforehand, the suspect held up a bodega on Hillside Ave., Kenny said.
“Victims tell the responding police officers that a male entered the store and announced the robbery,” Kenny said. “This male demanded money. He threatened the workers with a firearm. He threatened the customers with a firearm. He used a black revolver during this robbery, one shot was fired.”
Officer Wong and his partner were canvassing for the suspect when a bystander flagged them down and told them a man had just robbed a smoke shop on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, also at gunpoint.
The officers asked the suspect to stop but he did not comply, Kenny said.
“They wanted him to stay still,” Kenny said. “He doesn’t comply. Instead, he runs eastbound on Jamaica Avenue, away from the officers, while producing a firearm, these two officers order him to drop the gun. He does not do so. He fires one shot, striking police officer Wong in his thigh in a through and through injury. Police Officer Wong is forced to return fire.”
Wong shot Worthy once in the face. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Jamaica Hospital.
Mayor Adams added: “This is just another stark reminder the danger the men and women of the NYPD runs towards every day, said over and over again, they run towards dangers, and our officers did just that.”
Witnesses described a chaotic scene that largely matched Kenny’s description of the incident.
“He was coming out of the Target. The cop told him about four times, ‘Do not run. Do not run’. After that, a shot rang out,” said Henry Jaikeren, a street vendor who was working across the street at the time, told The News. “The guy spun around, and the cop shot him four more times in the belly. He was dead on the ground.”
Fellow officers rushed the wounded cop to Jamaica Hospital in a patrol car. He is expected to survive.
Mayor Adams added: “This is just another stark reminder the danger the men and women of the NYPD runs towards every day, said over and over again, they run towards dangers, and our officers did just that.”
A 26-year-old bystander was also shot in the leg in the commotion. She was taken to the hospital and is also expected to survive, Kenny said. It was not immediately known who had shot her, but “preliminary it looks like,” she was shot by the suspect, a police source said.
“A lady was coming out from the Target, who also got shot. She was hit in the left leg,” said another vendor who witnessed the shooting but declined to give his name. “She ran back into the Target and started screaming, and then all hell broke loose.”
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