An off-duty New York City police officer fired his weapon during a dispute on Long Island with a longtime friend, who was shot in the head and killed, authorities said.
The 25-year-old man was shot in front of a house in Farmingdale around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nassau County police said. The name of the victim and the name and age of the off-duty officer have not been released.
“They met up. A struggle ensued," Newsday quoted Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder as saying. “During that struggle, a weapon was produced and the victim was shot and killed.”
The men “were childhood friends; they grew up together,” Ryder said.
Authorities did not explicitly say the victim was unarmed, but the office of state Attorney General Letitia James will investigate under an executive order for cases involving the death of unarmed people at the hands of police officers, an office representative said.
The city police officer was hired just last year and after the shooting was suspended for 30 days without pay, Chief of Department Terence Monahan told Newsday.
The New York Police Department was quickly notified of the shooting, Commissioner Dermot Shea said, offering few details.
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“He was an NYPD officer that discharged his firearm,” Shea said during a news briefing. “As a result of that discharge, an individual was struck in the head and killed.”
