Man in Greenport police standoff fired about 10 shots, officials say

A Greenport man who police said was suicidal is believed to have fired about 10 shots before and during a three-hour standoff Thursday before he was killed by an officer when he came out of his apartment with a long gun, authorities said.

Robert Myers, 63, fired about three of the shots before Suffolk police officers arrived, then about seven more when the department's Hostage Negotiation Team was on the scene, Suffolk County police said Friday morning in emailed responses to a Newsday inquiry.

Most of the shots were fired at police, though some occurred inside his Middle Country Road apartment, authorities said.  

Myers was pronounced dead at Stony Brook University Hospital after the officer fired one shot at him at about 4: 20 p.m., police said. This is the first police-involved shooting in the county this year.

Myers spoke to a friend before the standoff and spoke about dying, police said Friday. The friend was concerned Myers would hurt himself. Myers reportedly said, “I’m not going to do it, the police are going to do it,” authorities said.

The friend called a mutual friend, who went to Myers’ apartment to check on his welfare and found him with a gun, police said. The friend left and called Southold Town police around noon Thursday, officials said. 

Officers responded in September 2013 to Myers’ home for a mental health call, Suffolk police said. He was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital for evaluation. Other police responses before 2013 were for medical-related calls, authorities said.

On Thursday, Southold officers surrounded Myers' apartment and contacted the Suffolk police department's Hostage Negotiation Team and Emergency Service section.

Three hours of back-and-forth phone discussions included Myers firing the shots. Negotiators instructed him to come outside with no weapons, Suffolk Police Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer said Thursday night at the scene.

Myers had agreed to the terms but swung his shotgun at police. One officer fired a nonlethal beanbag round at him and a second, a Suffolk Emergency Service officer in an armored vehicle, fired one live round, striking him in the chest, police said Friday.

Authorities said they found two other rifles in his apartment.  

Police declined to release the names of the officers.

The state attorney general’s office is in contact with Suffolk police and the district attorney’s office but is not officially involved in the investigation currently. The office, under a 2015 executive order, has jurisdiction to investigate police killings of unarmed civilians and when "there is a significant question as to whether the civilian was armed and dangerous."

The district attorney's office could not immediately be reached for comment.

With Nicholas Spangler