Police: Armed Man Killed By Officer In Times Square

[Renew Deal]

Source: NY1

Police shot and killed a suspected panhandler Thursday who they say fired a semi-automatic weapon at officers near the heavily-trafficked Marriot Marquis Hotel in Times Square. Sources say Bronx resident Raymond Martinez, 25, was peddling goods when he was approached by a plainclothes police sergeant assigned to an anti-crime squad cracking down on illegal street vendors in Times Square.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the suspect ran away, pulled out a weapon and pointed it at the sergeant.



"He was prudent. There was no one in the immediate area," said Kelly of the sergeant. "He took a defensive position. He fired. The individual fired back."

The police commissioner said the suspect fired two rounds at the sergeant, and that one went through a window of the Broadway Baby Gift Store and another went through the hotel lobby's ceiling. The sergeant fired four rounds in return, and Martinez was hit once in the chest and once in the arm by the hotel's entrance on 46th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue around 11 a.m. Martinez was taken to Roosevelt Hospital and pronounced dead.

Read more: http://ny1.com/7-brooklyn-news-content/news_beats/law_enforcement/110240/police--armed-man-killed-by-officer-in-times-square/

---

This is an extremely rare incident for this part of NY. There are a million cops in Times Square. You'd have to be an idiot to do something like this. This one learned that quickly. Thankfully his gun jammed.

[The_Commonist]

1. "Panhandlers" do not "peddle goods."

Something stinks about this story.
Or maybe it was "suicide by cop"?

[yellerpup]

3. He left a note

On the local news last night they showed a note he had written along the lines of: "any cop who wants to give me trouble will be sorry he picked on me today." The gun was fairly new for him, stolen from a VA gun dealer months ago.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Very odd behavior

He was going to get the year in Rikers on the gun charge, but still. Who tries to kill a cop over selling knock-off merchandise and carrying a heater?

Weird, weird stuff.

[Blue_Tires]

4. that's my question as well

[earthlite]

5. His gun jammed and they killed him anyway?

Gotta love those jackboots.

[gorfle]

6. When someone is pointing a gun at you...

When someone is pointing a gun at you you don't waste time trying to figure out how functional it may or may not be. You assume it is a deadly threat and you act accordingly.

Only a fool would pause to second-guess the situation.

[Lurks Often]

7. do you have the slightest clue as to what you are talking about?

Tell us Oh Great and Wise One, do you have the slightest clue as to what you are talking about?

Since you are so freaking intelligent please explain to all of us how the police officer was supposed to know the gun was jammed?

Please prove to us that the peddler wasn't going to be able to fix the jam immediately and start shooting again, possibly hitting the police officer or one of the hundreds of innocent bystanders?

[Name removed]

10. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Piewhacket]

8. Its a fair question, for it is damn criminal to kill a person who poses no imminent deadly threat...

but in this case shots were fired, and even if the gun
jammed it can be unjammed. The deadly threat remains.

One way out after shots were fired would be to lay down
the weapon and raise hands in surrender, and step away
from the gun, and comply with officer instructions.
A cop who shoots a man who has done that is a criminal,
not a cop.

But how is a man who has been pushed passed the brink of
survival and sanity supposed to think that straight?

[Renew Deal]

9. How would the cop know the gun jammed?

I'm much more worried about cop haters than "jackboots."

[sabbat hunter]

12. he had been shooting at the cops

the cops returned fire. He was still attempting to shoot them. He did not surrender, the cops had no way of knowing his gun jammed.

[OneTreeLove]

11. If you shoot at a cop

you deserve to be shot at. These officers put their lives on the line every single day. That's a lot of stress for these guys to deal with (and they don't paid too much)

I have to give them some respect, especially here -- when they did everything right