Queens Gazette

Crime Watch



Guilty Plea in ‘Friendly-Fire’ Cop Slay

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced last week that the man responsible for sparking a friendly-fire NYPD shooting that killed a Queens detective in February 2019 has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and robbery.

Katz said Christopher Ransom, 30, formerly of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court on October 20th to second-degree aggravated manslaughter and first-degree robbery for the death of Detective Brian Simonsen. Ramson also pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery for a separate robbery he committed on February 8, 2019, Katz said.

According to court records, on February 12, 2019, Ransom and a co-defendant entered a T-Mobil store on 120th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens just after 6 p.m., with Ransom brandishing a black pistol.

Ransom ordered two store employees inside the location to surrender cash and merchandise from a rear room. Ransom was still inside the location when the first police officers responded to the scene, Katz said. He pointed the gun, which appeared to be real, at the police officers – who discharged their service weapons in response.

Detective Brian Simonsen, 42, a 19-year NYPD veteran, was fatally shot once in the torso, Katz said. NYPD Sergeant Matthew Gorman was seriously injured with a bullet wound to his left leg.

“The defendant set in motion a terrible chain of events that began with a robbery and ended in a spray of bullets when Ransom pointed what appeared to be a deadly firearm toward police officers,” Katz said. “Ransom was repeatedly told to lower his weapon but did not do so. The heartbreaking result was the loss of Detective Simonsen’s life and Sgt. Gorman being shot in the leg.”

Katz said she hopes Ransom’s conviction brings Simonsen’s widow and family “a measure of closure.

Simonsen’s widow, Leanne, was in the courtroom for the guilty plea, Katz said. She left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

“The acts of Christopher Ransom caused the death of Detective Brian Simonsen,” Paul D’Giacomo, president of the Detective’s Endowment Association said. “We lost a dedicated, hero detective. It’s something we all will have to live with for the rest of our lives.”

Ransom and his accomplice, Jagger Freeman, 27, were allegedly holding up the store with the fake gun when police investigating a spree of cell phone store robberies surrounded the location, an NYPD spokesperson said.

When Ransom spotted the cops, he ran toward them pointing his fake weapon, the spokesperson said. The cops opened fire from both sides of the store entrance, striking Simonsen in the chest.

Ransom was shot a total of eight times, but managed to survive, police said.

Freeman allegedly acted as a lookout outside the T-Mobil store, police said. Both men were also linked to a series of similar cell phone store robberies to which Freeman has pleaded not guilty.

Ransom was facing 50 years in prison before taking the plea deal. He is expected to be sentenced to 33 years in prison to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.

Ransom’s criminal record includes more than 25 arrests, including for impersonating a police officer.

 

Ridgewood McDonald’s Thief Caught on Video

A brazen customer waiting for change from a worker at a Ridgewood McDonald’s restaurant was captured on surveillance video leaping over a counter to grab cash from an open register, police said.

Cops said the man placed an order at the restaurant on Myrtle Avenue near Palmetto Street at about 1:40 p.m. on October 15th and handed the worker a $5 bill. When the worker opened her register, the man reached around a COVID partition and grabbed as much cash as possible from the open drawer – dumping the drawer onto the floor.

The man, dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt and white face mask, made off with $1,116 in cash, speeding off in a dark gray Nissan Rogue that was idling at the curb, police said.

The worker was not injured during the robbery.

Police said the holdup took place one day after another man swiped employee credit cards from a Manhattan McDonald’s breakroom and tried to use one of the cards at the Ridgewood restaurant.

Police are searching for both men and are urging anyone with information to call the CrimeStoppers HOTLINE at 1-800-577-Tips or click on www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.

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