Fatality occurred during a shootout with a fugitive
CAROL DEMARE, BRENDAN J. LYONS
Albany Times Union
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ALBANY, N.Y.— The acting head of the New York State Police said Friday that a state trooper who died in a shootout with a fugitive was killed by another trooper’s bullet.
A bullet from a State Police weapon was recovered during the autopsy on the body of Trooper David Brinkerhoff, according to Preston Felton, acting State Police superintendent.
Felton also revealed during a news conference that a bullet from the fugitive, Travis Trim, struck Brinkerhoff in the chest, but the trooper’s body armor deflected it.
Trim, 23, also was struck three times, once in the face and twice in the body, Felton said, and died almost instantly during Wednesday morning’s shootout. State Police are awaiting full autopsy results to confirm at what point Trim died and who fired the shots that struck him.
Trooper Richard Mattson was wounded in the arm by Trim’s weapon, Felton said. He is in serious but stable condition at Albany Medical Center Hospital. ``He’s going to make it,” Felton said.
Seven members of the State Police Mobile Response Team, including Mattson and Brinkerhoff, were in the house and four fired a total of nearly 70 shots. Trim moved about the house during the gunfight.
Felton said Brinkerhoff ``entered the house as a hero and left that house as a hero and will always be remembered as a hero by the members of the New York State Police.’'
The manhunt was sparked when Trim shot Trooper Matthew Gombosi during a traffic stop on Tuesday. Gombosi, whose body armor protected him, was slightly injured.
Trim took refuge in a farmhouse after the first shooting. He tripped an alarm in the home and a trooper and police dog who investigated found some of Trim’s items on the property.
The Mobile Response Team members called to the scene were searching the house when the gunfire erupted.
Hours after the gunfight, tear gas lobbed into the house set a fire that damaged half the structure before firefighters brought it under control.
Trim’s burned body was located in the farmhouse later that night and removed from the scene early on Thursday morning.
Copyright 2007 Albany Times Union