At approximately 2211 hours on Friday, December 29, 2023, a 19 year-old female complainant approached officers at the MTAPD Jamaica district office alleging that a man had grabbed her breasts and blocked her path on the sidewalk outside a few minutes earlier. She displayed a picture she had taken on her phone of the perpetrator, who is wearing a distinctive jacket. 

 

Officers begin within two minutes to canvass the area and at approximately 2216 hours two uniformed MTAPD officers observe the suspect, still wearing the jacket in the victim's picture, near 91^st Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard, approximately one block from Jamaica Station. 

 

As the officers attempt to arrest him, the suspect resists, reaching toward his waistband, and refusing to comply with officers' requests to show his hands. At approximately 2219 hours, a shot is fired by the perpetrator. Both officers step back and draw their service weapons, as the suspect's MAC-10 submachine gun with a 30-round extended magazine becomes visible. Both officers then fire, striking the suspect in the head and elsewhere on his body. 

 

The perpetrator was transported to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2320 hours. The suspect's gun was recovered at the scene (photo attached). Incident captured on officers' body-worn cameras.

 

Both officers were transported with trauma to an area hospital.

 

The investigation, which is in early stages, will be led by the MTA Police with assistance from the NYPD. Notification is being made to the Office of the NYS Attorney General and MTA Inspector General.