Cops: Man shot after pulling gun on police in Wyandanch

A college student from Wyandanch was shot by a Suffolk police officer and remained hospitalized Tuesday after police say he pulled a gun during a routine traffic stop near his home.

Two officers in a marked car were on patrol Monday about 11 p.m. when they saw a Hyundai Tiburon turn onto North 20th Street in Wyandanch without a signal, police said. The officers approached the car and, smelling marijuana, asked the driver, Mark Williams, 20, of Dix Hills, to get out, said Det. Sgt. Thomas Groneman. Jalane Latif, 18, was in the front seat, the lone passenger.

Williams volunteered that he had marijuana, police said, and a small bag of pot was found in a pocket. Officers told Latif to get out and were patting him down when an officer felt an object in his clothes, Groneman said. Latif pushed the officer away and ran around the back of the Hyundai and toward Nicolls Road, a weapon in his hand, officials said. The officer "believes he's pointing the weapon at him and fires five times," Groneman said.

Latif was grazed by one bullet; a second wounded him in the right arm, police said. Two bullets hit trees in the yard of a home diagonally across from the shooting. The third pierced the second floor of the unoccupied house, police said.

The shooting happened at a distance of less than 20 feet, police said. A loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic Smith & Wesson pistol was recovered. The gun is now being traced by federal agents.

"At this point in the investigation, it looks like a good shooting," Groneman said, in that the shooting was justified. It will be reviewed by the department and prosecutors.

Latif was under observation with non-life-threatening injuries at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in Bay Shore.

Latif's family said Tuesday that they had little information about the extent of his injuries or what led to the shooting.

"He's not the kind of kid who gets into trouble," said Latif's mother, Naseebah Hill. His grandmother, Sakinah A. Kareem, said she was home with other family members when they heard Latif screaming for her and an uncle. Reaching the corner, they found Latif surrounded by officers, yelling and trying to stand.

"I told him to lay down and he listened," she said. She and other family members said they had no update on his condition, and that he was hospitalized under a false name. They said they didn't recognize the driver of the car.

"All the information is scattered right now. We don't know what happened," said Hill, who lives about two blocks away.

Latif is enrolled at Farmingdale State College and is preparing to enter a nursing program while working at a Target store. His family said he's had no known trouble with police or anyone else.

"Is it in his nature to walk around with a gun? No," Kareem said. "But could he have? God knows best. We're trying to be fair and just across the board."

Latif was charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon. He was not arraigned Tuesday, pending medical clearance. Williams was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation. Neither has any known criminal record.