BROOKLYN — A man who fired a handgun several times into the air and then was waving the weapon around in the middle of the street was shot and wounded by police in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens early Sunday, according to the NYPD and witnesses.
A lieutenant and two police officers from the 71st Precinct arrived at the intersection of Rogers and Lefferts avenues about 7:15 a.m. Sunday after reports of shots fired. Once there, police said they found Paul Mathurin, 31, in the middle of the street threatening passing cars with a Taurus 9 mm handgun.
According to police officials, the three uniformed officers ordered Mathurin not to move, then fired 12 shots, hitting the man once in his right hip.
.@NYPD71Pct were responding to a call of "shots fired" & a "shotspotter" activation near Lefferts Ave. & Rogers Ave. pic.twitter.com/c0qb0vZ2jB
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 10, 2016
Helen Edwards, 62, said she saw Mathurin approach a woman, speak with her and then fire three shots into the air after woman walked away.
"I rushed back in here and told all my neighbors, there's a man with a gun out there," Edwards said. "I saw him coming down the street. He stopped at a car across the street, pulled out a gun and started talking to himself."
Responding officers told Edwards to "drop the gun," but Mathurin refused, Edwards added.
"Thirty something years I've lived here and I've never seen someone with a gun," the woman said.
Officers shot a man who was waving a gun around at Rogers and Lefferts avenues on Sunday, according to the NYPD. (DNAinfo/Kathleen Culliton)
Jenniece Centrella, 41, who has lived on the intersection for less than a year, said the shots woke her up.
"I called 911 immediately," she said. "I had no idea what was going on."
Mathurin was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where NYPD officials said he was expected to survive. All three officers were taken to a local hospital for observation, treated and released, police said.
"I'm more worried about police with guns," said Zach Shukan, 40, who lives near the northwest corner of Rogers and Lefferts avenues. "My wife is pregnant. They could have shot into the window.
"There's Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter. They're not conflicting."
