by Shaila K. Dewan, The New York Times
Detective Bobby Parker followed his calling to the end. As he lay dying on a Brooklyn street on Friday night, he managed to call 911 and tell the operator that the man who had shot him and his fellow detective, Patrick Rafferty, was pictured in a mug shot on the dashboard of their car.
That same mug shot was soon being distributed by police officers in their exhaustive manhunt for the suspect, who was apprehended shortly after the shooting.
Detective Parker, a teddy-bearish 6-foot-4 former wrestler, and Detective Rafferty, a Long Islander who took his three children on camping trips - were killed in a confrontation with a suspect whose mother had come to the precinct because she was frightened of her sometimes violent son. In the ensuing struggle, the son, Marlon Legere, took Detective Parker’s gun and used it to shoot them both, a law enforcement official said.
Mr. Legere, 28, was shot in his left foot and right ankle, the police said.
A repeat felon, he could face two counts of first-degree murder, said Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes.
The deaths meant that the city’s police officers woke to a morning of compounded grief: the third anniversary of the death of 23 officers at the World Trade Center and the fresher wound of the loss of two more.
After staying at Kings County Hospital Center, where the two detectives had been taken after the shooting, until after 3 a.m. yesterday, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly appeared before 8 a.m. at ground zero, where he stood near the podium listening to the names of the World Trade Center terrorism victims read aloud by family members.
Commissioner Kelly did not answer questions from reporters, but issued a written statement that said, “In honoring our officers killed in the extraordinary attack on the World Trade Center three years ago, we are reminded by the deaths of Detective Robert Parker and Detective Patrick Rafferty that our police officers are prepared to give their lives in the day-to-day protection of the people of New York.”
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who spoke at the Sept. 11 memorial service, said that just as the city was tested on Sept. 11, 2001, it was tested again on Friday night in the streets of Brooklyn. “This is a war against the bad people of the world,’' the mayor said.
Detective Parker was a 22-year veteran described as a “fixture” in East Flatbush, where he had served at the 67th Precinct for some 15 years. Detective Rafferty was an up-and-comer with 15 years on the force. He was sort of an understated “Clark Kent with Superman underneath,” said one of his superior officers in Brooklyn South, Deputy Inspector Vincent Di Donato. Together, the two men had made about 900 arrests - Detective Parker almost 500 and Detective Rafferty about 400, the police said. Detective Parker, 43, had reached the coveted rank of second-grade detective.
“Their reputation preceded them in the area, in the neighborhood,” said Michael J. Palladino, the president of the detectives’ union. “They were well-known, well-respected guys.”
Detective Rafferty, 39, lived in Bay Shore with his wife, Eileen, and children: Kara, 12, Kevin, 8, and Emma, 5. “He was one of those guys who was just proud as hell to be a cop,” said a close friend, John Triandafils, a retired police officer and neighbor. “You knew he was behind you.”
Friends said Detective Rafferty had been able to insulate his family from the dangers and stresses of his job - until Friday night. When neighbors heard his son scream and saw police officers in the driveway, many knew what had happened.
“He was like a lot of cops,” Mr. Triandafils said. “They tend to others while they’re bleeding to death.”
Detective Parker, who friends said was divorced, was remembered as a consummate interrogator who once bonded with a suspect who was a “Star Trek” fan. Deputy Inspector Di Donato recalled how the detective had put his hand to the young man’s temple and said he was doing a “Vulcan mind meld.” He then told the suspect that he had read his mind and knew he was guilty. The suspect confessed to murder.
Detective Parker lived in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn with several cats, the inspector said. Yesterday, three sisters of a woman who had dated Detective Parker for 12 years came to lay flowers at the scene of the crime. The fourth sister was out of town, they said.
“He was like a big teddy bear,” said Diane Olatunde, 49, one of the sisters. “The kids called him ‘Uncle Robert.’ ” She said that even though he and her sister had stopped dating, Detective Parker would still drop by her mother’s house to have a cup of tea and chat.
The events leading up to the shooting began in May, when Mr. Legere’s mother, Melvere, complained that her son had broken a mirror in her house, threatened her and demanded the keys to her car, which she surrendered. Detective Parker was assigned to the case. Over the summer, he worked with Ms. Legere, of 519 East 49 Street, trying to apprehend her son.
On Friday, the police said, Ms. Legere came to the precinct and left word that her son had come home. When Detective Parker arrived for the 4 p.m. shift, he went to the house, but Mr. Legere was gone. Detective Parker and Detective Rafferty began to search the neighborhood, and at about 8:30 p.m. Ms. Legere told them by phone that he was home again, in her car, a blue Mazda with tinted windows, in front of the house, according to a senior police official.
The two detectives blocked the Mazda with their car. Detective Rafferty approached the passenger side, and Detective Parker the driver’s side, where he told Mr. Legere to turn off the ignition and get out of the car, the official said. Mr. Legere refused, and an argument followed that soon escalated into a physical struggle, the official said, stressing that investigators are still trying to determine exactly what happened.
At some point, Detective Rafferty went around the car to join his partner, the police said. The door to the car was open. Gunfire rang out.
Investigators believe at least eight bullets were fired - seven from Detective Parker’s gun and one from Detective Rafferty’s. It was not clear if Detective Parker had drawn his own gun, a 9-millimeter Glock that he wore in a hip holster, before Mr. Legere wrestled it away.
Mr. Legere’s wounds could have been caused by a single bullet that passed through his left foot and right ankle, the police said. Autopsies on the two officers were not completed as of yesterday afternoon, but the police official said each had been hit more than once.
The detectives were not wearing bulletproof vests when they were shot. Police officers in uniform are required to wear vests, but detectives, who usually are in street clothes, have discretion, the official said.
Mr. Legere has a history of violence. He has been arrested nine times and has served prison time for first-degree sex abuse, attempted assault and an attempted drug sale. He was last released from prison in March, according to state prison records.
New York State law allows for the death penalty when a law-enforcement officer is murdered. But in June, New York’s highest court ruled unconstitutional a certain provision of the death penalty that requires a judge to tell a jury that if it does not choose the death penalty the defendant could be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Mr. Schmetterer, the spokesman for District Attorney Hynes, said the case would be reviewed by a committee that makes recommendations on seeking the death penalty. But, he added, “It’s the district attorney’s opinion that right now the most serious punishment available is life without parole. There is no viable death penalty statue in effect today.”
After the shooting, witnesses told the police, Mr. Legere left the car screaming in pain and staggered to the corner. Using Detective Parker’s gun, investigators believe, he hijacked a minivan and fled, dumping the van at 622 Brooklyn Avenue, where he had acquaintances. But when his friends sensed he was in trouble, they turned him away, the police official said. Another resident called 911, and the police arrested him and took him to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center.
Detective Parker’s gun was later found behind the Brooklyn Avenue building.
Reporting for this article was contributed by Patrick Healy from Long Island, and Jim Dwyer, Ann Farmer,Janon Fisher, Kevin Flynn and Marc Santora from New York City.