An NYPD officer and an innocent bystander were shot and wounded, and a career criminal on lifetime parole was murdered in a gunfight after the suspect reportedly robbed a pair Queens stores Tuesday night, officials said.
Gary Worthy, 57, is accused of holding up two local businesses, a bodega and later a smoke store, at gunpoint and firing a single shot during each robbery in which he demanded cash prior to the fatal gunfight.
Officers were canvassing for the suspect in the first robbery, which happened just after 5:30 p.m., when a witness pointed them to Worthy who had just allegedly robbed the smoke shop on Guy Brewer Boulevard in Jamaica less than an hour later, NYPD officials said.
The authorities saw he matched the description of the culprit in the previous heist and ordered him to stop near the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 160th Street around 6:30 p.m.
Worthy, who has 17 priors, including murder, fled and allegedly drew his handgun, killing Officer Rich Wong, a seven-year veteran of the 103rd Precinct, once in the thigh, authorities said.
Wong returned fire, shooting Worthy once in the face. He was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital, police added.
Officer Wong was also taken to Jamaica Hospital, as was a 26-year-old woman who was shot in the crossfire. Both are anticipated to fully recover.
The gunfire frightened hundreds of New Yorkers, who fled for safety.
A mother who was picking up pizza nearby reported hearing “a loud bang” and initially thought the noise was from a construction site or a car backfiring — until three more rounds were fired and the bustling block devolved into chaos.
“It was followed by three more loud bangs and I said ‘Oh, those are gunshots and I need to run,'” according to Jennifer Wilson.
“So I looked about for a second, and everyone had scattered. We all ran to where we could, and then the cops swooped in and began shutting [the roadway] off.”
She was startled by the gunfire and unable to return home right away since her car was on the other side of the crime scene, which was cordoned off.
“I had an appointment up here, and I’m on my way home to my children with dinner and pizza, and it’s just so scary. It’s incredibly creepy, unsettling, and distressing.”
According to Wilson, hundreds of people fled for their lives as gunfire broke out.
“Jamaica Avenue is busy. This is Queens’ biggest street, and everyone is simply walking about, presumably on their way home, like me, and [we] are all dispersed like roaches,” she explained. “It was madness. It was quite wild.”
Dozens of cops surrounded the shooting scene, leaving the suspect’s body in “a pile on the ground,” according to Wilson.
Worthy was on lifetime parole for handgun possession when he was nabbed six days earlier, according to authorities. He was also a suspect in three previous gunpoint robberies, although his most recent arrest resulted in his release.
Additional information on Worthy’s past murder charge was not immediately available, but Mayor Eric Adams confirmed that the career criminal had pled guilty to manslaughter.
Adams lambasted the criminal court system for releasing him after his most recent arrest for felony narcotics possession and resisting arrest.
“We’re angry because we have witnessed in two days a criminal justice system that is failing New Yorkers, the good people of this city,” Adams said us.