2 NYC Police Officers Killed

[trackstar16]

Sorry to report that 2 NYPD detectives from the 67th precinct were killed in a gun battle tonight in East Flatbush.

Suspect believed to be in custody.

I'll post more when I get more.

[DelC]

September 11, 2004
Gunman Kills Two Detectives in Brooklyn
By DANIEL J. WAKIN - NYC Times

A convicted felon shot and killed two police detectives seeking to question him in a domestic violence case in Brooklyn last night, hijacked a car and fled, bleeding, to a nearby building, where he was arrested, the police said.

After a barrage of gunfire about 8:40 p.m. in front of 519 East 49th Street, between Snyder and Tilden Streets, the police set forth on a large-scale manhunt. They quickly found the stolen car outside a building on Brooklyn Avenue, 13 blocks away, Inspector Mike Coan said.

A bloodhound and German shepherd brought in to track the gunman went running toward the building. Scores of officers arrived, and some entered a building at 662 Brooklyn Avenue, Inspector Coan said.

Ten minutes later, the officers emerged with a suspect, identified by the police as Marlon Legere. He had a gunshot wound in one leg, the inspector said, so he was strapped to a gurney and taken away in an ambulance. A gun was recovered in the rear of the house.

The slain detectives, who were taken to Kings County Hospital Center, were not immediately identified.

The last fatal shooting of a police officer in New York City took place in March 2003, when two detectives were killed during an undercover investigation in Staten Island. That double killing was the first time in more than 13 years that two on-duty police officers in the city were fatally shot on the same day.

Sgt. Kevin Farrell, a police spokesman, said the timing of the shootings - a day before Sept. 11 - had left many in the Police Department shaken.

"When this first happened, it was like, 'Not today,' " the spokesman said. "Not that you'd want it to happen any day, but just not today. It just makes it worse."

Records of the state's Department of Correctional Services showed that Mr. Legere had served one and a half years in prison for the attempted sale of a controlled substances, two years for sexual abuse in the first degree and another one and a half years for second-degree assault. He was released from jail on that charge last March.

Inspector Coan gave the following account. He said the detectives, who were in plainclothes, were responding to a "past domestic violence call" that remained an open case.

"They knew that Marlon had a relative - a mother, probably a mother - on this block," he said. The officers, driving the wrong way on a one-way street, saw Mr. Legere in a car and pulled up in front of him, blocking him in.

Both detectives approached Mr. Legere's car - it was unclear from what direction or toward what side - "and a number of rounds were fired," the inspector said. "Then Marlon exited the vehicle and he car-jacked a vehicle."

Sgt. Kevin Farrell, a police spokesman, said: "They were looking to pick him up to talk to him. Apparently it just went wrong." The details of the detectives' investigation, he stressed, were still sketchy.

As the detectives were taken to the hospital, the scene of the shooting was flooded with police officers, who closed off streets in the manhunt as police helicopters hovered overhead.

Reporting for this article was contributed by Ann Farmer, Janon Fisher, Stephanie Keith, Andy Newman and Jess Wisloski.

[IM911]

This is the last thing NYC needs on 9/11. My thoughts are with the families and the NYPD.

[elrey500]

Officer safety, weapon retention. Be safe out there.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/19433.htm

'I GRABBED HIS ; GUN AND SHOT'

By LARRY CELONA, DOUGLAS MONTERO and HASANI GITTENS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Email Archives
Print Reprint



September 12, 2004 -- A Brooklyn punk confessed to killing two NYPD detectives with one of their own guns, police sources said yesterday.
But one of his targets lived long enough to ID the suspect, Marlon Legere, to a 911 operator. The cop's dying words helped officers capture him.

Detective Bobby Parker, 43, and Detective Patrick Rafferty, 39, were gunned down by a man Parker knew well, police said.

Parker was the case detective who had worked for the past four months with Legere's mother and relatives. They feared the ex-con because of his constant demands on them.

On Friday night, Legere wanted to "borrow" the Mazda 626 owned by his mother, Melvere Legere, said Hollis Roberts, Melvere's brother.

Frightened of her son, Melvere Legere called the 67th Precinct detective squad. Parker and Rafferty responded and went to her house on East 49th Street in East Flatbush.

But by the time they arrived, Marlon, 29, had driven off in his mother's car. So the detectives staked out the block and spotted him when he returned.



After using their car to pin Marlon in, they approached him on foot, Parker on the driver's side, Rafferty on the passenger side, police sources said.

"We believe he [Parker] told him to step out of the car," said a senior police official.

Marlon refused, and at some point, the Mazda's door opened and a struggle began.

"When they tried to grab me, I wouldn't let them. I grabbed their gun and I shot them," Marlon Legere admitted to investigators, police sources said.

Both cops were carrying NYPD standard-issue 9 mm Glock pistols — but neither was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Rafferty gun was fired once and Parker's was fired seven times. Both detectives were hit twice in the chest, and Legere was shot in the legs.

As he lay dying on East 49th Street, Parker dialed 911 on his cellphone. He told the operator he'd been shot.

Asked if he knew who shot him, Parker responded, "Yes, I have his picture on my dashboard," a senior police official recounted.

When cops arrived on the scene, Parker again pointed out that he had a picture of Legere in his car.

After the shooting, Legere ran with Parker's gun down the block and carjacked a minivan. He pulled out its driver, Omar Harvey, and fled.

"He was limping down the block, it was frightening," said Rupert Wallace, 59, who was parked near the carjacking. "He could have jumped in mine, I just took off like a jet."

Police said Legere drove the stolen van to 662 Brooklyn Ave. There, sources said, he tried to enter a female acquaintance's apartment and get rid of Parker's gun.

"He knows people in that building. He makes his way into an apartment, but they know that he is shot and he is up to no good," said the senior police official.

"They weren't that close to him and wanted nothing to do with him."

Legere was then forced out of the apartment and lay bleeding in the hallway.

Someone called 911, and police flooded the building, finding their man and the gun, which had apparently been thrown into the building's courtyard.

One man visiting his family on Brooklyn Avenue was shocked as he saw about 75 police officers converge on the building.

"I've never seen something like that before," said the 29-year-old man, who gave his name only as Chris. "I never saw so many people try to fit through one door."

The 67th Precinct detectives first met Legere on May 12 when Melvere Legere called to complain that her son had threatened her, broke a mirror in her bedroom and swiped her car.

Over the next four months, Parker was called to the Legere home on East 49th Street enough times to become cordial with the alleged killer's mother.

"The guys [detectives] became like family to her," Hollis Roberts told The Post.

Roberts said Marlon Legere's main problem was that he was "spoiled."

"He was not violent, he was a spoiled kid. He was the only child she had," said Roberts. "Both officers wanted to help him — put him in a program."

Questions remained unanswered last night concerning Legere's arrest July 1 for assaulting his girlfriend and another days later for reckless driving.

Authorities said he was Stopped and given a summons for the latter, and was due back in court Sept. 22.

It remained unclear if authorities were aware of the open criminal-mischief complaint that his mother filed against him May 12 when he was stopped.

About four of Rafferty's grief-stricken relatives showed up at the blocked-off crime scene late last night to place flowers, and card at a makeshift shrine erected on the ground where he was shot.

Additional reporting by Philip Messing, John Doyle and Georgett Roberts