It started before sunrise and did not end for hours. By the time it was over, a 15-year NYPD veteran had been shot and a 48-year-old man was dead. An elderly couple had spent the morning trapped on the same floor as the gunman.
Police were called to 190 Kosciuszko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant at 5:45 a.m. on June 19 after shots were fired inside the brownstone, according to the NYPD and reporting from amNY and ABC7. The gunman, identified as Lamin Simmons, 48, fired roughly 20 rounds over the course of the standoff. Around 8:30 a.m., he began hurling things out a window at officers staged in the backyard below: a microwave, a lamp, pots and pans.
Simmons’ wife and son got out safely and told officers about his history of mental illness. An elderly couple was trapped on the same floor as Simmons during the standoff.
At 8:52 a.m., Emergency Service Unit officers went in and met Simmons at the top of the stairs. Police say he ignored repeated orders to drop his gun and opened fire, hitting Detective Matthew Gale in the left leg and fracturing his shin. At least four officers fired back, striking Simmons, who was taken to Woodhull Hospital and pronounced dead.
Gale, the 15-year veteran, was treated at Kings County Hospital and, days later on June 23, was stretchered out to a round of applause from fellow officers, waving as Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and other brass saw him off. He is expected to recover.
