NYPD: Officers fatally shoot suspected fugitive in Queens

The NYPD said police officers shot and killed a suspected fugitive in Queens Thursday who had fired on cops trying to question him about a September shooting.

The suspect, 24, had fled in a vehicle when the officers spotted and tried to detain him, then he displayed two handguns and ignored orders to drop them, according to Sgt. Anwar Ishmael, an NYPD spokesman.

The suspect, whose name was not disclosed Thursday, was brought to Jamaica hospital and pronounced dead; no officer was struck, Ishmael said.

The incident happened around 12:30 p.m. near 182nd Place and 144th Avenue, where officers from the NYPD warrant squad had been surveilling a location to arrest the man, a suspect in a Sept. 20 nonfatal shooting of four people, Ishmael said.

Just before the gunfire, the suspect was seen emerging from the location and entering the vehicle to go north on 144th Avenue, when the officers attempted to stop him and he tried to flee, Ishmael said.

According to a transcript of remarks by Terence Monahan, the NYPD's chief of department, "As the warrant officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect fled in the car for a bit less than a mile until colliding with another vehicle," followed by a foot pursuit.

"Officers can be heard on body-warn camera telling the suspect numerous times to drop the guns," Monahan said.

Seven officers fired, he said, and the incident was captured on officer body cameras.

"Once again, NYPD cops are running into harm’s way in order to keep New Yorkers safe. Fortunately, this violent individual did not harm anyone in the public or officers today. But make no mistake, this underscores the extreme dangers our brave cops face without hesitation," he said.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.