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Retired NYPD Officer Who Fatally Shot Robber 'Acted Properly,' Police Say

By  Trevor Kapp and Ben Fractenberg | June 14, 2016 3:36pm 

 A retired NYPD officer fatally shot a man had been robbing people at gunpoint inside Parkside Pub in Queens early Monday morning, police said.
A retired NYPD officer fatally shot a man had been robbing people at gunpoint inside Parkside Pub in Queens early Monday morning, police said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

CIVIC CENTER — The retired NYPD officer who fatally shot an armed robber in the head in a Queens pub early Monday morning “acted properly” after he dropped his gun and had reason to believe his life was in danger, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Tuesday.

The 69-year-old former officer was drinking inside the Parkside Pub at 24-14 149th St. at about 3:53 a.m. Monday when 24-year-old Andrew McClean, who investigators believe was “under the influence of a narcotic,” came in and robbed him and at least one other patron at gunpoint, according to Boyce.

The retired officer, whose name had not been officially released, had a gun in an ankle holster when he was initially robbed.

Police said that video of the incident then shows the retired officer reached for the weapon after McClean moved on to another victim, but then he dropped it.

“He felt the perpetrator heard that," Boyce said.

The retired officer then picked up his weapon, saw the robber coming back in his direction with his gun drawn, and shot him.

McClean was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

McClean had an open case for a Jan. 29 drug arrest at the time of his death. He was busted at the Flushing Grand Hotel at 36-38 Main St. with another man with 104 glassine bags of heroin, eight bags of oxycodone and two bags of Xanax, according to court records.

Boyce said the officer, who retired in 1975 on disability after working for the NYPD for seven years, “doesn’t look like he’s going to be charged immediately.”

The shooting, though, “will probably go to a grand jury," he said.