Nov. 22, 2023 By Dean Moses and Robert Pozarycki
A Queens shooting suspect engaged police officers in an hours-long standoff at an apartment building on Wednesday with the perpetrator critically wounded.
The impasse ended just before 2 p.m. on Nov. 22 with the suspect removed by police and rushed to a local hospital for treatment. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman shot himself, or had been wounded by police.
The standoff ended hours after the suspect allegedly shot and injured a building superintendent at 31-31 54th St., an apartment building in Woodside, at about 10:50 a.m. Wednesday. The location is within the confines of the 114th Precinct.
The superintendent, a 48-year-old man, suffered a bullet wound to his stomach and was hospitalized for treatment.
“He gave the officers a little information about what happened, and he also told the officers that the person who shot him lived in the building,” Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a press conference Wednesday.
When police arrived at the apartment building, authorities said, they reportedly became encountered the officer, who had fired his weapon out his apartment window while officers were attempting to reach him.
“At some point while they were in the building, our male comes out the window of apartment 6J and fires at least one round. Our officers then respond they make it the sixth floor. One of our officers then discharges his weapon at least three times at the male. We do not believe the officer hit the male.”
Maddrey said the suspect then ran back into the apartment and barricaded himself inside.
The wounded suspect in a Queens standoff and shootout with police on Nov. 22, 2023.Photo by Dean Moses
NYPD officers respond to a shootout and resulting standoff in Woodside, Queens on Nov. 22, 2023Photo by Dean Moses
One building resident who spoke to amNewYork Metro described the frantic situation they observed while waiting for an elevator to arrive.
“The shooter, he hold the elevator on the second floor. Then he starts walking to the staircases, and he hold the door. I saw him, he was holding the door,” the resident said. “Then the supervisor was inside of the elevator. Then he started shooting boom-boom-boom-boom.”
A police officer climbs an NYPD Emergency Services Unit truck during a standoff in Woodside, Queens on Nov. 22, 2023.Photo by Dean Moses
Police operate a heavy duty vehicle at the scene of the standoff on Nov. 22, 2023.Photo by Dean Moses
Another resident detailed that the gunman then went up to the building’s sixth floor, and began firing shots toward the street.
“He started shooting from the window,” said the resident, who noted he was waiting close to the building at the time.
Sources say a suspect subsequently barricaded himself inside an apartment, prompting police to deploy emergency service units to the scene.
A massive NYPD presence converged upon the area, including heavily-armored members of the Emergency Services Unit, as they sought to resolve the standoff.
“They were able to secure the building. They were able to clear out other civilians to make sure it was safe,” Maddrey noted.
The NYPD then deployed negotiators and an array of technology — including drones and their Digidog robot — to engage the suspect in attempting to end the standoff peacefully. But while officers attempted to get a camera into the apartment, Maddrey noted, the suspect fired again.
“As we were putting the camera in the apartment, we heard a gunshot from the apartment and with the use of our camera we saw the male laying on the floor,” the chief said. “He was yelling for help. Our officers were able to get him to relinquish the firearm that he still had in his hand.
Emergency Services officers then took the wounded suspect into custody and have him rushed to a local hospital for treatment. His condition was not yet provided, Maddrey said.
The chief noted that the suspect is known to the department. The motive for the shooting remains unknown and under investigation.
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