N.Y.P.D. Fatally Shoots Man as Gunfire Also Wounds Officer

New York|N.Y.P.D. Fatally Shoots Man as Gunfire Also Wounds Officer

Police officers responding to reports of two robberies in Queens on Tuesday fatally shot an armed man after he shot one of the officers in the leg during an exchange of gunfire that left a bystander wounded as well, officials said.

The injured officer, Rich Wong, was taken to Jamaica Hospital for treatment and was expected to recover, officials said. The man shot by the officers, Gary Worthy, 57, of Jamaica, Queens, was pronounced dead shortly after Officer Wong shot him, officials said.

The bystander, a 26-year-old woman whose name was not released, was also expected to recover, officials said. It was unclear who had fired the shot that hit her during what witnesses described as a chaotic scene in a busy commercial area in Jamaica.

The shooting, coming a day after a 51-year-old man was charged with killing three people in a series of random stabbings in Manhattan, prompted Mayor Eric Adams to express relief over the officer’s expected recovery mixed with outrage over how he had come to be shot.

“We are grateful tonight,” Mr. Adams said at a news conference at Jamaica Hospital where he and police leaders discussed the shooting. “But we are also angry. We are angry because we have witnessed in two days a criminal justice system that is failing New Yorkers.”

Mr. Worthy was released from prison on parole in November 2021 after serving 11 years on charges of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and burglary, according to state corrections department records.