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One hero police officer is home with his family and another is recovering in stable condition after the two were shot by a fare-beater during the Tuesday, October 21 evening rush hour at the crowded Queensbridge/21st Street subway station.
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old illegal immigrant suspect remains at Bellevue Hospital, after the supervisor of the two injured officers fired and struck the suspect four times. The suspect likely will face attempted murder and a host of other charges.
Police Officer Jason Maass, 28, left Elmhurst Hospital Center around 11 p.m. Tuesday night, but before doing so, another officer took him in his wheelchair to visit his partner Shane Farina, 38, who was not conscious at the time, according to hospital spokesperson Dario Centorcelli.
“Hang tough in there brother,” Centorcelli said about the few words Maass shared with Farina. “You did a great job.”
Centorcelli said Farina was in stable condition on Wednesday morning, but he would not give a timetable as to when the hospital would release him.
The melee broke out around 5:15 p.m. at a subway station on the F line at 21st Street and 41st Avenue, across the street from the Queensbridge Housing Project.
The suspect, Raul Nunez, swiped himself into the station with a student MetroCard; the use of this type of card caused a light to be illuminated near the turnstile, according to New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. This attracted the attention of Lieutenant Gary Abrahall, who was inside a booth in the station at the time. Abrahall noticed that the passenger did not seem to be a student.
Abrahall radioed officers Farina and Maass, who were positioned on the Manhattan-bound platform below, telling them that a man who had entered the station illegally was approaching them, police said.
When they spotted the passenger, Maass and Farina approached him, identifying themselves as members of the police, according to Kelly. When the officers tried to apprehend Nunez, having gotten only one of his hands cuffed, Nunez began fighting them. The two 114th Precinct officers and Nunez ended up on the floor.
“During the struggle, one of the officers’ guns came loose. Nunez grabbed it, stood up and fired at both officers while they were still on the ground,” Kelly said.
Maass was shot in the lower back, while Farina was left with a shot in the sternum and a fractured rib.
Nunez then fled, taking the escalator to the upper level of the station, and while he was on the escalator, he may have fired another round at the wounded officers, according to police.
On his way out, Abrahall, who had come out of the station booth, confronted Nunez, Kelly said. He explained that Nunez looked alarmed, still holding the gun he shot the officers with - a 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson.
To escape from Abrahall, Nunez fired three times and in response, Abrahall fired six shots, striking the suspect four times - twice in the left leg, once in the right leg and once in the torso.
Later that night, Nunez was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he told the detectives that he had attacked the police because he wanted to escape from them since he was afraid of being deported, Kelly explained. An illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Nunez was deported in 2001 on drug charges, Kelly said.
Nunez now faces charges of attempted murder of police officers, which will result in imprisonment from 25 years to life, according to Helen Peterson, spokesperson for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
“He may be arraigned from the hospital,” Peterson said on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the scene played out in front of hundreds of commuters traveling to and from work and drew the attention of nearby residents and workers.
Alice Rosario, 40, a Queensbridge resident, was about to finish her shift as a cashier at Paretti’s Liquor store located only two doors down from the subway station, when she noticed the commotion.
“I went outside, and I saw police cars coming from all over and telling people to move and running into the subway station,” Rosario said.
In his nearly five years in the Police Department, Farina has been recognized five times for his work. Maass joined the Police Department in 2006.
