cuchulainn
Member
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030311_543.html
Two N.Y.C. Detectives Fatally Shot
Two New York City Detectives Fatally Shot in Undercover Gun Buy
The Associated Press
NEW YORK March 11 —
Two police detectives on an undercover mission to buy illegal guns were shot and killed after backup officers lost track of them in the maze-like roads of a New York City neighborhood.
The slain detectives, who had been driving with two associates of a gun seller, were found Monday night shot in the head and lying in a Staten Island street. They were the first New York City officers killed in the line of duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks.
"This kind of barbarism will not be tolerated in this city," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Dozens of police officers in riot gear swarmed the crime scene, shutting down lanes on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn, and forced a ferry bound for Staten Island to return to Manhattan while the shooting was being investigated.
The slain detectives, from the organized crime gun control bureau, had been working on the gun operation for about six months. Their identities were withheld in part because of the risk to other undercover officers.
The officers, who had been armed, apparently had not fired a shot.
A 19-year-old man identified as Omar Green was wanted for questioning, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. Local media reports said between two and three men had been arrested.
The two slain detectives were hoping to buy a Tech-9 submachine gun and had picked up two associates of a man who had previously sold one of the officers a gun. Their car was secretly being tailed by four backup undercover police cars.
When the detectives' car stopped suddenly, the backup officers were forced to keep driving to avoid being detected. The backups then lost sight of the car when it drove off again and lost radio contact with the detectives when they entered a hilly area, the commissioner said.
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.