Queens cops and an armed robber traded gunfire in a shootout on a busy shopping strip Tuesday night, leaving an officer and an innocent bystander wounded and the suspect dead, police said.
Authorities said the shooting happened at about 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 19, when officers from the 103rd Precinct approached the robbery suspect — identified as Gary Worthy, 57, of 127th Avenue in Queens — who had been tied to two armed stickups in the neighborhood moments earlier.
Moments later, the responding cops and the robbery suspect exchanged shots near the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 164th Street. During the exchange, one of the cops — Police Officer Rich Wong, a 7-year NYPD veteran — was shot in the thigh, while Worthy was fatally struck in the face.
“There were rapid pop-pops,” said one eyewitness at the shooting scene. “Everyone was running and looking scared.”
Wong’s partner rushed the wounded officer to Jamaica Hospital. Police later learned that a 26-year-old woman, described as a bystander, was shot and wounded in connection with the shootout, and is also undergoing treatment at Jamaica Hospital. It is not yet clear whether the woman had been shot by the officer or the suspect.
Both the wounded officer and bystander will make full recoveries, Mayor Eric Adams said during a Tuesday night press conference at the medical center.
“They may leave the hospital, but the trauma never leaves you when you are the victim,” Mayor Adams said. “It is just another stark reminder of the danger the NYPD faces every day.
But Mayor Adams and police brass revealed at the press conference that Worthy, the slain robbery suspect, had 17 prior arrests on charges including murder, robbery, burglary and narcotics possession; was on lifetime parole for a firearms possession conviction; and had been arrested just six days ago for drug possession and resisting arrest.
Despite all this, Mayor Adams noted, he was still released without bail following his Nov. 15 arraignment.
“The criminal justice system is failing New Yorkers and the good people of this city,” Hizzoner concluded.
Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association union representing the NYPD rank-and-file, was particularly furious, suggesting that the entire criminal justice system “is broken from the top to the bottom.”
“New York City police officers are sick and tired of being assaulted on the streets,” Hendry said. “It has to end. We need all New Yorkers once and for all to demand change in our criminal justice system.”
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny outlined the preliminary details of the investigation into Tuesday night’s shootout.
The trouble began at about 5:35 p.m. on Nov. 19, when Worthy allegedly stormed into the Village Market Grocery store at 164-01 Hillside Ave. in Jamaica, announced a robbery and displayed a firearm.
During the incident, Kenny said that Worthy allegedly fired a shot, though no one was struck. It appeared to be a warning shot, and fit a pattern involving other recent store robberies in the community in recent weeks.
The 107th Precinct responded to the stickup and learned that Worthy had allegedly fled the shop and ran southbound into the neighboring 103rd Precinct’s confines. Officers obtained his description and broadcast it on radio.
Kenny said that the 103rd Precinct officers were canvassing Jamaica searching for the suspect when a witness informed them that a smoke shop at 92-18 Guy R. Brewer Blvd. at about 6:24 p.m. on Nov. 19. The description of the robber in that incident matched that of the perpetrator in the Hillside Avenue stickup.
Six minutes later, at about 6:30 p.m., Officer Wong and his partner spotted Worthy, who fit the robbery suspect description, at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 161st Street. The two officers repeatedly ordered him to stop, but Kenny noted that Worthy instead ran eastbound along Jamaica Avenue while producing a firearm.
Moments later, at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 164th Street, the shots rang out that left Officer Wong and the female bystander wounded, and Worthy dead.
The NYPD Force Investigation Division is now leading the investigation into the shootout, Kenny said. “Yet again, a violent criminal with absolutely no regard for human life decided to open fire on a New York City police officer on an extremely busy street,” interim Police Commissioner Tom Donlon said. “We’re incredibly grateful that our officer will be okay.”