Bloody pandemonium erupted in Borough Hall station in Brooklyn Tuesday night when a retired correction officer shot and killed an apparently unarmed man who had confronted him on a train moments earlier, police said.
Two men in their late 20s began harassing the 69-year-old retired officer as he boarded the Brooklyn-bound 4 train at Bowling Green around 6:30p.m., said police and a witness.
“They were talking mad trash,†said the witness, 30-year-old Thomas Berry of Crown Heights, who was on his way home from work. “They must have been drunk.â€
The witness said one of the younger men told the older man, “Oh, I got you now, my n—–†as the retired officer tried to walk between the two men to get on the train.
All three men were black, police said, but Berry said one appeared to be Hispanic.
“(The older man) said, ‘I’m not your n—–, I’m not your boy,’†the witness said. “He said, ‘Leave me alone, don’t talk to me.’ He was being really calm.â€
But the dispute heated up as the train went under the East River, then turned violent when one of the harassers punched the older man in the head as he tried to get off at Borough Hall, Berry and police said.
“He just clocked the guy,†the witness said. “The older man was taken back.
The retired officer held the gun to the puncher’s side, but the younger man pushed him away, knocking him onto one of the subway seats.
“Everyone said ‘gun’ and ran off the train, I was standing there in shock. I didn’t know what happened,†Berry said.
The former correction officer followed the two younger men as they both got off the train, first popping a clip into the gun, the witness said.
He cornered one of the men at the dead end of the platform and the two wrestled before the younger man was able to escape, Berry said.
The witness said the gunman followed the younger man up the stairs to the mezzanine level. It was not clear if his gun was drawn as he went upstairs. A video obtained by Channel 2 shows the officer punching the younger man, then the scuffle resumed, and the retiree shot the younger man once in the torso during a struggle, according to police and MTA sources.
“It’s hand-to-hand combat, wrestling, and at some point the gun goes off,†an MTA source said.
Straphangers tried to flee.
“I was getting off the 4 train and then … it was gunshots. I was desperate to get help. I just wanted to get out,†said Fatim Manuel, 47, who was getting off a Manhattan-bound 4 train when the attack occurred.
The man who was shot was rushed to Brooklyn Hospital Center, where he died, according to police sources.
His friend was arrested at the scene, the sources said.
“He was on his back, and he was shot, just below the heart,†a witness who works in the area and declined to give his name said.
“He was yelling, ‘I didn’t do s—, you’ve got it all wrong, you guys are f—–d up,’†the witness said.
The shooter was being questioned but was not immediately charged.
“He appears to be a licensed gun holder, so unless its determined that it was a bad shooting, he shouldn’t be charged,†a high-ranking police source said.
