Photograph of the scene on Baxter Street by Petrolum Jelliffe on Flickr
An off-duty police killed one of two men who attacked the desk clerk of a luxury building in Chinatown late last night. Detective Martin Carrano, 36, was also stabbed in the neck and back; his injuries, as were the desk clerk's, were non-life-threatening.
According to the NYPD, the victim, Artenida Gjeli, had filed a domestic violence complaint at the 114th Precinct in Astoria, where Carrano works. Since she had received harassing phone calls from her ex that evening, Gjeli called Carrano, who stopped by 123 Baxter Street where she works. During their talk, two men entered the building, probably thinking it was a hotel and wanting to rob it. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters the two men asked for a room; per the NY Times:
. When she told them the building was not a hotel, they grabbed Detective Carrano and slashed the back of his head, the commissioner said.
The detective broke free of the men. One of them then jumped over the reception desk and other ran around it, and they both began attacking Mr. Gjeli, the police said.
“She slid to the floor and attempted to fight her assailants as they continued to slash her with sharp objects,” Mr. Kelly said.
Then, Kelly said, "Detective Carrano reentered the lobby and hindered the assault by firing at the two assailants." One suspect was fatally shot in the abdomen, while the other was later in stable condition at St. Vincent's.
Carrano fired 10 times and, per NYPD policy, he was given breathalyzer, which "was determined to be negative." A witness overheard him identify himself as a police officer. The Post quotes Gjeli's uncle as saying Carrano "saved her life" while the Daily News mentions some residents think Carrano was moonlighting as a guard for the building.
123 Baxter Street was in the news last year for its automated parking system.
