By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A judge Thursday granted the District Attorney extra time to investigate the wild Harlem police shootout that left one man dead and two NYPD officers in the hospital.
Prosecutors were given a 45-day extension to convene a grand jury to hear charges against Angel Alvarez, 23, after several police officers testified about the chaos that unfolded at a Lenox Avenue cookout in the early hours of Aug. 8.
Police and witnesses said Alvarez sparked the battle that killed 21-year-old Luis Soto when "a feud that had been simmering" for weeks turned violent.
One officer testified that his colleague said Alvarez had shot at him.
"Yes, he shot at me," said Officer Douglas Brightman, according to the testimony of Sergeant Phillip Terpos.
Brightman was not hit. None of the officers who testified were among the four who fired their weapons that night.
Police officer Railyng Frias, one of the officers called to the scene, said he heard two shots go off near Alvarez — though he could not identify who the shooter was — followed by a barrage of police fire.
"I immediately heard more shots fired at the time," Frias said during testimony. "I also heard windows popping and tires popping."
The next thing Frias saw was Alvarez lying face down on the pavement, bloodied and holding a .38 caliber revolver in his right hand.
One sergeant said he could not initially tell whether Alvarez was a plainclothes officer or a possible perpetrator.
After four officers had fired 46 times, responders scrambled to identify who had been hit, witnesses testified at the hearing.
One officer was shot in the hand during the melee and another was shot in the chest and saved by his bullet-proof visit.
Soto was killed.
Police originally charged Alvarez with attempted murder, claiming he fired at police responding to the scene, but prosecutors arraigned him Monday only on gun charges.
Alvarez's attorney, Matthew Galluzzo, argued that Soto shot twice at Alvarez, who only wrestled the gun from his foe in self-defense.
Experts testified that the DNA profiles of both Alvarez and Soto were recovered from the the gun recovered at the scene.
It has been determined that the bullet that ended Soto's life was fired by one of the police officers at the scene, prosecutors said.
At the hearing Thursday, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Bonnie Wittner ruled there was reasonable cause to pursue felony charges against Alvarez, which was the standard the DA was required to meet in order to keep him in custody another 45 days while the investigation is continued.
"Judge Wittner's decision, which found reasonable cause to believe the defendant committed a felony, gives us the time to do a thorough investigation into this matter," said Erin Duggan, a DA spokesperson. "We will put that time to good use."
Prosecutors will have until October to present Alvarez's case to a grand jury to secure an indictment.
