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Off-Duty Detective Kills Man Trying to Mug Him on Grove Street

By DNAinfo Staff on January 30, 2012 7:00am  | Updated on January 30, 2012 3:42pm

A police detective shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to mug him on Grove Street near Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on January 29, 2012.
A police detective shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to mug him on Grove Street near Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on January 29, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Nick Rizzi

By Nick Rizzi and Wil Cruz

DNAinfo Staff

BUSHWICK — An off-duty police detective shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to rob him in Bushwick late Sunday by attacking him with a cane, NYPD officials said.

Antwain White, 17, of Brooklyn, was killed after he and an accomplice allegedly approached an off-duty officer walking to work from the J train's Gates Avenue subway station, at 11:49 p.m., police said. 

White allegedly struck the detective with a cane on his face while the other suspect allegedly grabbed the detective's arm and pretended he had a gun, according to NYPD officials.

Police said the detective ordered White to stop and displayed his shield and identified himself as an officer. The teen, however, did not stop, officials said, and the detective opened fire, shooting the alleged would-be mugger in once the chest.

White was taken from the scene in front of 22 Grove St., near Broadway, to Woodhull Hospital, where he died, police said.

The detective was taken to Wyckoff Hospital for treatment. His condition was not immediately clear.

The second suspect, reportedly a 15-year-old, was caught early Monday morning and was being questioned about his potential involvement in the attack, police said. As of noon Monday, he had not been charged, police said.

People who live in the neighborhood said the shooting happened on a block that is poorly lit and where there have been a lot of robberies lately. The block has apartment buildings on one side, and vacant land on the other.

"There's been a lot of muggings, a lot of gangs," said 22-year-old Bushwick resident David Rodriguez. “I walk down this area everyday. It's dark. Some of these light don't work."

He added, "It's been rough out here. We should have some more cops on duty."

Another resident, Juan Gomez, 42, said that when he walks Grove Street to the subway station at night, he stays in the middle of the street because it’s safer than the sidewalks.

"There's been a lot of activity on this block. Like robbing people, breaking the windows of cars, Gomez said.

The shooting marks the second time in as many weeks that an off-duty cop shot a man. A lieutenant fatally shot an armed suspect in Cypress Hills on Thursday, police said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the shootings have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

"I think it’s always a mixed bag and you have to look, just very carefully, look at every time there is a shooting to make sure that nobody is abusing the fact that they are allowed to carry a gun,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Queens.

Still, he continued, "I think we expect them, in fact, when they’re in their private lives to come to the rescue of other people," he said. "There’s an expectation that the police officer doesn’t leave responsibility or training at the office, if you will."