NEW YORK — A New Yorker was hit by a stray police bullet as NYPD officers a man shot underwent skull surgery at a Brooklyn train station to reduce swelling from a bullet wound to his head, a family member said.
Gregory Delpeche, 49, was riding the subway to work when the shooting happened Sunday. Now he is under sedation in a hospital as his loved ones gather around him and doctors treat his serious injury.
“Right now he’s breathing through a tube,” Delpeche’s cousin, Greg Nougues, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday as he was on his way to visit him in the hospital. He added that the family was in a “waiting game.”
Nougues said the prognosis is uncertain and that doctors had to open his skull to operate on swelling in his brain. He said the family is seeking an attorney.
Around 3 p.m. Sunday, two police officers saw a man enter the station without paying. The officers followed the man to the elevated subway platform, but he refused commands to stop and muttered threats to police, department Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news conference later Sunday.
Police shot the man multiple times, but Delpeche and a 26-year-old woman were also hit, along with one of the officers. The woman was struck by a bullet, and the officer, who was shot in the armpit, is expected to recover.
Gregory Delpeche’s name and the severity of his injuries were first reported by the Daily news.
“This really sucks. Why are the officers shooting into the crowd?” Delpeche’s friend and neighbor Leighton Lee told the News.
A bystander video posted online after the shooting showed a chaotic scene, including fleeing passengers, police rushing to help the wounded and the wounded officer suddenly realizing he too had been hit by a bullet. Victims can be seen lying on the ground in two separate subway cars in one video.
Nougues confirmed that his cousin was shot in a different car than the alleged fare dodger. Police said the 37-year-old man is also in the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Maddrey said the man threatened the officers and they realized he had a knife. They fired two Tasers, but neither one incapacitated him. He then walked toward the officers with the knife and both officers fired multiple shots, he said.
Separately, police are looking for a person they believe has been kidnapped the knife from the crime scene on Sunday, shortly after the shooting.
Police and traffic officials say there is more video of what happened, but it has not yet been released.
Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday during his weekly news conference that he sympathizes with the innocent bystanders who were shot. He visited the 26-year-old woman in the hospital and spoke with her mother.
“It’s heartbreaking when an innocent person is the victim when action is taken,” Adams told reporters.
Adams said he has reviewed the videos and believes the officers responded appropriately.
“I saw the steps that those police officers took,” Adams told reporters. “Over and over again, over and over again, trying to reason with the offender. And so some people said, ‘Well, you shouldn’t be enforcing fare evasion.’ No. This is not a free-for-all city.”
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AP researcher Randy Herschaft contributed to this report.