A fare-beater caught sneaking into a Queens subway last night coldly shot two cops with one of their own guns after he knocked them to the station-platform floor, authorities said. The gunman then bolted - weapon still blazing at the wounded Anti Crime transit cops - and ran into a lieutenant who dodged the suspect's bullets and pumped four of his own into him.
The heart-pounding, rush-hour shootout at 5:15 p.m. had straphangers ducking for cover at the F-train station at 21st Street/Queensbridge in Long Island City. The shower of bullets lasted less than a minute, Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
Undercover Officer Shane Farina, 38, was critically wounded by a bullet that slammed into his side below his bulletproof vest. He had surgery at Elmhurst Hospital but later was giving a thumbs up to those around him, a hospital spokesman said. He was in serious but stable condition. Partner Jason Maass, 28, also wearing a vest, was grazed in the back. He left the hospital last night but not before stopping by to check on his partner.
Suspect Raul Nuñez, 32 - who sneaked back into the United State after he was deported to his native Dominican Republic in 2001 for a 1997 drug conviction - was at Bellevue Hospital with gunshot wounds to the legs and torso. He faces attempted-murder charges.
The crackling burst of violence occurred after Nuñez swiped a student MetroCard, setting off an alarm in the token booth on the upper level where Lt. Gary Abrahall was stationed, authorities said. Abrahall radioed Maass and Farina about the fare-beater, and the two cops grabbed Nuñez and got one handcuff on him. He immediately began to struggle, and knocked them to the ground. In the scuffle, a source said, Maass' gun fell to the platform and Nuñez grabbed it. He then stood over the two cops and fired two pointblank shots at them, a source said.
Racing from the bloodshed, Nuñez headed up an escalator, turning back to fire another shot at the wounded cops. But Abrahall was waiting at the top. Though Nuñez fired three times at the lieutenant, he missed, and Abrahall hit Nuñez four times.
Later in custody, another source said, Nuñez "indicated that he was afraid of being deported. He had been deported once before and he was afraid of going back."
Because he loves America I'm sure... |