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    Thursday, April 18, 2024

    Second arrest made in robbery that led to NYPD friendly fire death

    The entrance to the 102nd Precinct is shown Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in New York. A New York City police detective was shot and killed by friendly fire Tuesday night as officers confronted a robbery suspect who turned out to be armed with a replica handgun, Commissioner James O'Neill said. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

    NEW YORK (AP) — Police arrested a man Friday suspected of being the lookout during a robbery that led to the friendly fire death of a New York City police detective, an official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press.

    The man was taken into custody in Queens hours after NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill revealed on a radio show that police were looking for a second suspect in Tuesday night's stick-up, the official said.

    The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. The suspect's name wasn't immediately available Friday night.

    Detective Brian Simonsen was hit once in the chest by crossfire as he and six other officers fired 42 shots at robbery suspect Christopher Ransom, who police say charged at them from inside a T-Mobile store pointing a fake handgun.

    Simonsen, 42, will be laid to rest next week.

    Ransom, who was wounded eight times, was arraigned Friday by video from his hospital bed on murder, manslaughter and other charges.

    A judge ordered him held without bail. His next court date is scheduled for Tuesday. Ransom faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

    A message was left for a lawyer representing Ransom.

    Ransom, 27, has a long rap sheet and a habit of bizarre stunts, styling himself on social media as a comedian and prankster in the vein of Sasha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame.

    Ransom has been arrested at least 11 times since 2012, records show, and he was wanted by police in connection with a Jan. 19 robbery at another cellphone store. After one arrest, court papers show, Ransom was taken to a psychiatric ward.

    Ransom pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and was sentenced to 20 days in jail in 2016 after allegedly climbing over a gate and walking up to a desk at a Brooklyn police station while wearing a fake SWAT vest and police badge. Police records listed his alias as "Detective."

    Four years earlier, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail time for pretending to be an intern to gain access to a judge's chambers.

    A funeral for Simonsen, a 19-year veteran of the NYPD, is scheduled for Wednesday in Hampton Bays on Long Island, with viewings on Monday and Tuesday.

    Simonsen's supervisor and partner, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, was wounded in the leg . He was discharged from the hospital on Thursday.

    Simonsen, Gorman and six uniformed officers swarmed to the T-Mobile store at around 6:10 p.m. Tuesday after a 911 caller standing outside reported seeing a man take two employees to a back room at gunpoint, police said.

    According to a criminal complaint, Ransom ordered the employees to remove iPhones and money from the cash registers and back room safes.

    Simonsen and Gorman, who were both in plainclothes and not wearing bulletproof vests, were working on another case nearby when the call came and arrived around the same time as patrol officers, police said.

    Gorman and two of the uniformed officers went into the store, but retreated when Ransom emerged from a back room and came at them, police said. The gunshots blew out the store's doors, showering the sidewalk with glass.

    Simonsen stayed outside as Gorman and the uniformed officers went in, Monahan said. Simonsen fired two shots. Gorman fired 11 times. It's not clear who fired the shots that struck them, police said.

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    Follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak

    In this image taken from surveillance video provided by the New York Police Department, a man, identified by police as Christopher Ransom, is shown robbing a cellphone store, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, in the Queens borough of New York. Police say that Ransom is also a suspect in the robbery of another cellphone store in Queens that led to the fatal shooting of a detective on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/NYPD)
    A makeshift memorial is placed near the 102nd Precinct Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in New York. Brian Simonsen, a New York City police detective was shot and killed by friendly fire Tuesday night as officers confronted a robbery suspect who turned out to be armed with a replica handgun, Commissioner James O'Neill said. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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