Man Killed by Own Gun During Police Struggle

A man was killed by a "bullet from his own gun" on the roof of a Midtown building at 30 East 40th Street. The police say the man, who was found with "rope, a hacksaw and three Dell laptops in the intruder's backpack," may be a man with a number of burglary and stolen property arrests.

A building employee called the police after discovering a break-in. Superintendent Joe Aguasviva told the Daily News he had seen the suspect from other break-ins over the years, "Just when I thought he wouldn't come back, boom! He comes up again."

Police found the suspect on the roof and asked him to stop, but he ran away. The police chased him into the elevator mechanical room, where, according to the NY Times, "lieutenant grabbed the man’s clothing to pull him out, and the sergeant, who approached from a different direction, saw the man raise his hand toward the lieutenant with something wrapped in a blue material that looked like a handgun." The gun turned out to be wrapped in a sock.

The sergeant then tried to beat the gun out of the suspect's hand with a police radio, and a shot from the suspect's gun fired, hitting the suspect in the head.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on May 5, 2008 11:35 AM

Comments [rss]

sonyactivision

This proves Sock Monkeys can be dangerous.

dkim2015

good! someone i know got their apts (more than 1 in same building) robbed near that area. hope it is the same perp.

sakebalboa

#8

the "cycle" of violence continues...

commuter

"any witnesses? no? great! we can just say he shot his own self in his own head with his own gun while I was disarming him with my "radio" "

BMMDan

sounds like more police brutality. what's the over/under for Sharpton being on this issue? and wasn't the city supposed to be shut down recently? did I miss it?

wowthatsucks

bravo

Albert Sharpton

You know, even though these newspaper try to be PC about this perp's ethinicity , you know he's black.

His family must be proud, he got killed by a sock. (with a gun inside,but still..)

JRod5417

A sock can be a deadly weapon in and of itself if you don't do laundry often enough.

zodak

great, thanks to this clown, the police might shoot me the next time i do my laundry:

"look out he's got a sock!"

50 shots later & i'm dead.

jaja007

Great news. I wish the newspapers had a description or name of the perp.

mocanlagunas

Good!

Rocknrope

I wonder if the sock caught on fire, like the towel wrapped gun in Godfather II.

mocanlagunas

good!

babyhitler

looks like someone was playing way too much GTA IV and decided to do that shit in real life. It sounds like the climax of a really bad movie.