Off-duty cop shot by armed robber

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The robber saying “you know I have to kill you now,” a gunman robbed an off-duty city police officer and then shot the officer during a struggle Saturday near the cop’s home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, police and a witness said.

Officer Wiener Philippe, 26, a two-year veteran of the Police Department, was in stable condition at Kings County Hospital, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.


Saying the gunman fired several shots at the officer, Kelly said after visiting with Philippe and his wife at the hospital: “He realizes that he’s lucky. Everyone agrees that he’s very lucky.”

Police were still searching Saturday night for the gunman, whom they said fled with the officer’s badge.

“I would assume he didn’t know,” Kelly said when asked if the suspect knew Philippe was an officer before he sought to rob him. “He just saw an individual walking on the street.”

The incident happened around 6 a.m. on St. John’s Place, between Troy Avenue and Schenectady Avenue, police said.

During the robbery, a struggle ensued and several shots were exchanged. Philippe was shot once in the right shoulder with a semiautomatic weapon, but still chased after the gunman, who fled on foot, police said.

Officers responding to a 911 call of an officer shot found Philippe at Troy Place and Park Place, and took him to the hospital, Kelly said.

The gunman was last seen in the vicinity of 1191 Park Place. Police said they did know if the suspect was shot, but that he fled with the officer’s badge wearing a black snorkel jacket and blue jeans.

Philippe is assigned to the 83rd Police Precinct. He had taken Friday off and had just arrived home from a McDonald’s restaurant following a night out with another officer at a police function, police said.

Janice Tatum said the incident happened outside her apartment in the building adjacent to the apartment building where Philippe lives with his wife and son, described by other neighbors as between 4 and 6 years old.

“You know what this is, right?” Tatum, 41, said she heard someone say. She said she then heard what she believes was the gunman taking the officer’s wallet and a chain the cop was wearing around his neck.

Then Tatum said she heard, “You know I have to kill you now.”

And then: “Boom, a pop, boom, boom, boom.”

“It sounded like so loud I thought it was in my bedroom,” she said.

Tatum said she has lived in her building for about 30 years.

“I’m not surprised something like this happened,” she said. “You hear shots around here all the time.”

Another neighbor, who would only give his first name, Tony, said Philippe is the rare officer who interacts with others in the community. For example, he said he and Philippe often talk friendly about the reggae and R&B music that the officer is known to play loud from his car stereo.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” Tony, 35, said of the shooting. “If the person gets caught, I’ll be happy.”