The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - The mother of a man accused of shooting two detectives to death in Brooklyn last week said she felt “deeply sorry” for the victims’ families, and that her son had probably shot them because he was afraid of being arrested.
“My heart goes out to the families of the policemen and their kids,” Melva Legere, 50, told reporters Sunday outside her apartment on East 49th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn.
Legere called police last Friday to tell them her son, 28-year-old Marlon Legere, was in the neighborhood and wanted to take her car.
Officers rushed to the house, found Marlon Legere inside the car and boxed it in with their car, police said. He shot Detectives Robert Parker, 43, and Patrick Rafferty, 39, leaving them bleeding to death in front of his mother’s house.
Legere was shot in the leg during the struggle and remained in stable condition at Brookdale Hospital early Monday, said hospital spokesman Andrew Rubin.
Melva Legere said her son was a “loving” person and probably had not meant to kill the officers.
“It was the fear of being arrested,” she said.
She said she knew Detective Parker from calling in past complaints about her son’s violent behavior, including in May, when she reported he had broken a mirror in her house and taken her car without permission.
Parker “was here to protect me. He was doing his job. He did his job very well,” she said.
Marlon Legere has served time for assault, sexual abuse and attempted sale of a controlled substance. He was released from prison on the assault charge in March, according to state correction department records.
His criminal history includes nine arrests, including one for grand larceny.
Rafferty’s funeral was set for 10:45 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in East Islip, on Long Island.
No details were available on Parker’s funeral.