Oct 23, 2008 6:13 am US/Eastern
Officers In NYC Subway Shooting Speak Out To CBS 2
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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NYPD Lt. Gary Abrahall told CBS 2 he wasn't a hero, despite capturing the suspect who shot two of his colleagues.
CBS
Less than 24 hours after an armed man shot and injured two NYPD officers and opened fire on another inside a Queens subway station, CBS 2 caught up with two of the officers involved in the frightening incident.
Lt. Gary Abrahall, the officer who dodged bullets from the suspect, narrowly escaping injury before helping capture the armed man told CBS 2 not to call him a hero.
"Hardly. I'm not a hero. The two cops that took the bullets, they're the heroes," Abrahall said.
Abrahall was the one who found himself face-to-face with Raul Nunez, the man who wrestled a gun away from two officers as they tried to arrest him for evading a subway fare. Abrahall, along with officers Shane Farina and Jason Maass, were working a fare evasion detail and noticed Nunez using a student MetroCard he shouldn't have been using.
During the struggle, police say Nunez grabbed a police revolver and shot both officers, setting up the confrontation with Abrahall who was nearby.
"I'm doing OK," Abrahall said outside his home Wednesday morning.
As Nunez ran towards Abrahall and shot at him with a police gun, the lieutenant dodged the bullets and returned fire, hitting Nunez four times.
"I didn't sleep much, but it was OK," he said.
Early Wednesday, Officer Maass, who was grazed in the back, returned home from his night in the hospital.
"I really can't comment now. I'm feeling great, I'm concerned for my partner. My partner is a hero," he said of Farina.
Farine was shot in the stomach, just below his bullet proof vest. He remains at Elmhurst Hospital and was upgraded to good condition. Commission Ray Kelly said Wednesday the four-year veteran knows he's lucky.
"He was in pain, he has a broken rib and was operated on in the stomach area so obviously there is pain from the operation and pain from the rib when he breathes, but other than that he is relatively cheerful," Kelly said.
Kelly added the lieutenant who stopped the suspect with four bullets acted heroically, but Abrahall would't hear of it.
"It's my job. That's what we do. I'm glad everything worked out," he said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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