An NYPD detective wounded in a gun battle inside a Brooklyn apartment building was released from the hospital Tuesday to applause from fellow officers.
NYPD Emergency Service Unit Det. Matthew Gale was wheeled out of Kings County Hospital sitting upright on a gurney. He smiled and waved as hospital staff and hundreds of New York’s Finest cheered the hero cop’s swift recovery.
“Detective Gale put himself in harm’s way to protect others,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch posted on X. “His courage reflects the best of the NYPD and serves as a reminder of the risks our officers face every time they put on their uniform.”
Gale was being treated for a gunshot wound to his leg suffered during a tense standoff with an armed man inside the shooter’s Kosciuszko St. home near Marcy Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Friday.
The gunman, 48-year-old Lamin Simmons, allegedly fired more than 20 rounds at officers while an elderly couple cowered in an upstairs apartment just steps away from the shoot out.
A round fired during the exchange struck Gale in the left leg, fracturing his tibia, Tisch said.
Simmons was struck by return fire from police and died at Woodhull Hospital Center.
Cops raced to the suspect’s home about 5:45 a.m. after neighbors reported hearing Simmons firing off seven rounds inside his two-story brownstone.
Neighbors said Simmons and his family had lived on the block for more than three decades.
Responding cops entered the building and were immediately confronted by Simmons, who had a gun in his hand, Tisch said.
Cops retreated outside and tried to get Simmons to surrender but he refused, cops and witnesses said.
“(The NYPD) closed the block off as the police went to the front,” longtime neighbor Marino Lucon, 61, told the Daily News. “They said ‘Surrender!’ but he said “I have a gun with me. If somebody comes inside, I’m going to shoot them!’”
As the standoff began, Simmons’ wife and son were able to get out of the home safely, Tisch said. But an elderly couple in a second-floor apartment were unable to leave. They were unhurt during the standoff, which lasted more than two hours.
Mayor Mamdani thanked all of the officers involved in the standoff for “responding to an immensely challenging situation with professionalism and calmness.”