By Michael Morton
It appeared the officers, eight in all, had acted appropriately in firing some 38 to 43 bullets at the janitor, Brian Allen of 190-15 111th Rd., a law enforcement official said. The shooting was still being investigated by police, the medical examiner's office and the Queens district attorney as of Tuesday, with no evidence recovered that Allen actually fired at police.Allen allegedly shot a male colleague, Clard Coleman, 40, in the head just before 2 a.m. last Thursday at LaGuardia Community College, police said. Coleman, who is deaf and mute, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition and was released Friday with a bullet still lodged in his head, a hospital spokeswoman said. Police could not confirm reports that Allen may have shot Coleman out of jealousy because he mistook the sign language the other man was using to communicate with a female co-worker, also deaf and mute, as flirting. The nature of the relationship between the woman, whose name and age were not released, and Allen could not be determined.After allegedly shooting Coleman, Allen took the woman to his Hollis home and allegedly raped her, police said. Afterward, he brought her to an area McDonald's, where the woman tried unsuccessfully to convey her plight to other customers. Allen then returned to his home with the woman.Eventually, officers tracked Allen down and at 4 p.m. found his brother outside the suspect's home, talking to the janitor on a cellphone and trying to convince him to give up his alleged kidnapping victim who was inside the house with Allen. The officers joined Allen's brother in attempting to coax the 46-year-old out of the house.When Allen came out, the woman broke free and with the help of a neighbor got on a bus and rode home to Brooklyn. Allen, meanwhile, shouted at officers and pointed a .22-caliber gun at his own head before getting in a black 1985 Oldsmobile sedan and fleeing the scene west on 111th Road, police said. As he drove, he clipped two police cars before making a righthand turn onto Farmers Boulevard, where he struck a Ford van and a Chevrolet and stopped near the intersection of 109th Avenue. No one was injured in any of the accidents, police said.After the crash, Allen got out and began shouting at officers again before pointing a gun at them, ignoring orders to drop his weapon, police said. Eight officers then fired, striking Allen 12 times in the head, chest, arms and legs. Investigators were expected to examine whether Allen wanted officers to shoot him, a death known as “suicide by cop.” After the confrontation, a handful of officers were treated for trauma at Jamaica Hospital, police said.Allen had more than a dozen arrests for robbery and assault dating back to the 1970s, police said, and was twice convicted of assault and later paroled, according to state Department of Correctional Services records. He worked for Fedcap Building Services in Manhattan, police said, but a company spokesman declined comment and would not confirm if Allen had ever undergone a background check.LaGuardia Community College was closed at the time of the shooting and opened as scheduled later in the day.”The school was fully operating and we just regret that such an event had to happen,” said Audry Harrigan, executive assistant to the college's president.Matthew Monks contributed to this report.Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
