Carjacker Killed in Hail of Bullets

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Crown Heights, Brooklyn — A Brooklyn man was killed in a drawn-out gunfight with the police yesterday after squeezing a lifetime of mayhem into less than 20 minutes, carjacking and crashing two cars, firing at an apartment door and a carful of strangers, and then finally at officers who closed in after he squirmed out of a passenger’s side window, the police said.

After the police shot him on a busy Crown Heights street, the man, Victor Gordon, 23, got up and resumed shooting before officers fired a final barrage. He was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital, the police said, and as night fell, they counted at least 122 shell casings strewn along Park Place near Albany Avenue, where the shootout took place.

Despite all the bullets, only one other person was injured, a man who was hit in the arm after Mr. Gordon had crashed one car and was looking to steal another, the police said.

The precise motive of the wild shooting and carjacking spree was not immediately known, but the police speculated that it might have been prompted by an argument that Mr. Gordon had Friday night with his companion, the mother of his child.

The rampage started near the southeast corner of Prospect Park shortly before 2 p.m., where the police said Mr. Gordon carjacked a Dodge Charger on St. Pauls Place — around the corner from where he lived — by forcing the driver out with a 9-millimeter handgun.

He drove to a building at 1030 President Street in Crown Heights, just east of the park, where his companion’s parents live. He went to their apartment and, getting no answer, fired two shots at their door.

J. R. Jones, 47, who lives on the first floor, said his 12-year-old daughter was outside when the gunman arrived. “She said he was drunk,” Mr. Jones said. “She said he fell down, pointed a gun at everyone on the block, and then got up and got into the car.”

The police said Mr. Gordon sped off in the Charger, winding his way northeast through a maze of streets before crashing into an empty storefront at 1647 Pacific Street in Crown Heights. He got out of the car, and, waving his gun, tried to carjack a Nissan Maxima that had three people inside, but the driver sped off.

Infuriated, Mr. Gordon fired shots at the Maxima but missed. The police said that one of the bullets hit the arm of a 46-year-old man sitting in a parked Jeep Cherokee. But one bystander, Derrin Dyson, 14, said that the gunman had walked up to the Cherokee’s window and shot the man at close range. The victim, who was not identified by the authorities, was in stable condition last night at Kings County Hospital.

The gunman then walked toward a corner bodega at Albany Avenue and Pacific Street, R & R Deli Grocery, while Derrin ran for cover inside the store. The owner, Giuseppe Lopez, locked Derrin, himself and three other people inside as the gunman walked by.

“He looked like he was out of his mind,” Derrin said.

The police said Mr. Gordon then forced the driver of a silver Lincoln Town Car, a livery car, out at gunpoint, hopped into the car and began driving south on Albany Avenue. He made it five blocks before slamming into a lamppost at Park Place, hitting it with such force that it crushed the car’s front end and sent the lamppost’s arm crashing to the ground.

It is a busy intersection — with a coin laundry, a bodega, a Chinese restaurant called Lucky Chueng Kitchen and the Albany Houses project — and people began drifting over to check on the driver and look at the car, which was nearly wrapped around the lamppost.

Ricky Williams, 46, who lives nearby, heard the boom of the impact and went outside. The man was sitting behind the wheel, dazed, Mr. Williams said. The stench of oil and gasoline was filling the air, he said, and the man, barely visible behind the car’s crumpled front end, began groping around. A paramedic who happened to be nearby approached the car, but the man aimed a gun at him and the paramedic retreated quickly, his arms covering his face, Mr. Williams said.

The driver, visibly groggy, tried to get out of the passenger’s side of the car, first head first, then foot first, before finally wriggling out one arm and foot at a time, Mr. Williams said. The moment Mr. Gordon hit the ground, police cars arrived, lights flashing, sirens screaming. The police opened their car doors and crouched behind them, ordering the man to drop his gun, Mr. Williams said. Mr. Gordon did not, witnesses said, and instead began firing at the officers.

“That’s when all hell broke loose,” Mr. Williams said.

The police immediately began firing back, and Mr. Gordon returned their shots, all the while weaving in and out of parked cars and slowly making his way up the south side of Park Place toward Troy Avenue as bystanders, including children, dove for cover and shattered glass flew.

It was not immediately clear how many officers were firing. Mr. Williams guessed that he heard about 60 shots and that the shootout lasted more than two minutes. Then, Mr. Gordon was hit in the chest, and slumped to the sidewalk, behind the cars, he said.

For about 20 seconds, everything was silent, according to another witness, Sue Ann Peace, 42. Mr. Williams said he saw Mr. Gordon staggering back up to his feet and begin firing again, as officers fired back. Witnesses guessed that they heard 30 or 40 more shots, and that the second shootout lasted two minutes.

By that time, officers were streaming up Park Place from both Albany Avenue and Troy Avenue, cornering Mr. Gordon. He was shot again several times, and fell, this time for good. Mr. Williams said that he saw four or five officers jump on top of the shooter’s body, but that he did not move again.

It was about 2:10 p.m., witnesses said, less than 20 minutes after Mr. Gordon took the first car.

Mr. Gordon, who lived at 1834 Caton Avenue, just south of Prospect Park, was paroled in June 2006 after serving 17 months in prison for criminal possession of a weapon, according to records from the State Department of Corrections.

Sandra Brown, 59, an aunt of Mr. Gordon, who was sitting outside his apartment last night with relatives and friends, said that Mr. Gordon, a house painter, lived in the apartment with his mother, two sisters and a brother.

She said that Mr. Gordon’s companion, the mother of their 3-year-old child, had been there the previous night and that the couple had argued. “I know they’re always fighting,” said Ms. Brown.

On President Street, several hours after Mr. Gordon came looking for his companion, the woman’s mother began to search herself. “I’m trying to find her,” her mother, who did not give her name, said last night. “I don’t know where she is.”

Daryl Khan, David K. Randall, Ethan Wilensky-Lanford and Timothy Williams contributed reporting.