The Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A city police officer responding to an early-morning disturbance Sunday was in critical condition after being shot, and a preliminary investigation suggested that the bullet came from another officer’s weapon.
Officer William McGarry, a 22-year veteran of the Fort Lauderdale force, was stable Sunday evening following surgery at Broward General Medical Center, officials said. He was shot around 1 a.m., when he and two other officers investigated reports that a man was disorderly at an apartment complex.
The suspect, John G. Yanosik, 46, allegedly was yelling racial slurs from his seventh-floor balcony to a black woman who also lived in the apartment building. Yanosik, who was charged with one count of aggravated assault with a firearm, allegedly pointed a weapon at Officer Stevens Gelu.
Shots were fired and McGarry was struck, and early indications pointed to the likelihood that at least one bullet that hit McGarry came from Gelu’s weapon, said police Sgt. Al Lewers, the department’s spokesman.
“Officer McGarry was shot in the arm and the bullet went in his side,” Lewers said. “The round is lodged in his chest.”
Gelu, who was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, has not been interviewed. Investigators have been unable to speak with McGarry. Yanosik was being held at Broward County’s Main Jail on $5,000 bond.
“Results of a ballistics evaluation will determine whose weapon was used,” Lewers said. “Final determination is pending the recovery of the bullet from the injured officer.”
Yanosik allegedly barricaded himself inside his apartment after the shooting, and emerged only after gas canisters were fired into his residence by SWAT team officers after a three-hour standoff, Lewers said.
Additional charges are pending, and the investigation is continuing.