Manhattan- Aux. P.O.'s Shot/Killed 03-14-07

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Date: 3/14/07

Time:

Location: Greenwich Village

CBS) NEW YORK CBS 2 has learned all four people, including two auxiliary police officers, involved in Wednesday night's wild shootout on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village have died.

Sources said both auxiliary officers -- civilian volunteers who wear uniforms, are unarmed and help patrol streets -- were taken to St. Vincent's Hospital, but later died.

The shooter first gunned down a pizza parlor worker and was later killed by plainclothes officers responding to the incident.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke at a press conference at St. Vincent's later Thursday morning.

"Tonight was a horrible night for the New York Police Department and for our city," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said the altercation started when the armed man entered a local pizza parlor and asked for a menu. The gunman then shot the worker 15 times in the back. He then exited the eatery and immediately came upon the two auxiliary officers, shooting both, including one cop in the head.

The motive for the shooting of the pizza parlor worker is not known at this time, but sources said the unidentified armed man was carrying two weapons, a 9-millimeter handgun and a .380. A bag of ammunition was also found near the scene of the officer shooting, suggesting a possible hit. Sources said the shooter also had a fake beard glued to his face.

Police are currently trying to identify the shooter.

Restaurant worker Nikola Simic said he saw police officers swarm toward the middle of Sullivan Street.

"Then we heard a shooting that was like a good five minutes," Simic said.

Josh Drimmer was inside a bar at the time of the shooting.

"Hearing that many shots in a row," he said, "it was war. It felt like that for a hot second."

Witness Darren McNamara, a tourist from London, said he heard two bursts and thought it was someone shattering the front window of a shop, but it turned out to be gunfire.

Witnesses had reported that people ran into the Lion's Den bar in Greenwich Village. But a representative for the Lion's Den, Howie Schnee, said the shooting unfolded only outside the bar. Jeff Garibaldi, who was working at the door of the Lion's Den, said no one involved in the shooting had entered the club.

The street where the shooting occurred is located near New York University's downtown Manhattan buildings on a block populated with bars and restaurants.

Police cordoned off several blocks nearby as patrons poured out of the establishment after the altercation. They escorted area residents to their homes.