NEW YORK — A second man was charged Sunday in connection with the death of a New York City police detective who died last week after he was hit by “friendly fire” from officers responding to a robbery in Queens.
The man, Jagger Freeman, of Queens, was charged with second-degree murder, robbery, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to a spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney’s office.
He was arraigned on the charges Sunday morning in Queens.
Freeman, 25, is facing many of the same charges as the man who was shot while in the store, Christopher Ransom, during what was initially reported to police as an armed robbery in progress. Police have said Ransom, 27, used a realistic-looking toy gun to hold up the cellphone store Tuesday evening, and made motions to make it look as if he was firing the weapon. Officers responding to the scene fired 42 times in 11 seconds, striking Ransom eight times.
Two officers were also struck during the fusillade. Detective Brian Simonsen, 42, a 19-year veteran of the department, was struck in the chest and killed. His boss, Sgt. Matthew Gorman was struck in the leg. Gorman has been treated for his wounds and released, police said.
Police have not specified what role they believe Freeman played in the episode, which happened on Atlantic Avenue in the Richmond Hill neighborhood.
“He was acting in concert with an apprehended individual during the commission of a robbery which caused the death of a member of the service,” said Sgt. Brendan Ryan, a spokesman for the Police Department.
The two officers entered the T-Mobile store around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday to find Ransom brandishing what appeared to be a handgun, said James P. O’Neill, the police commissioner. He advanced on the officers, and they fired as they retreated to the street, where other officers responding to the call had congregated. There, Simonsen was shot in the chest, in what O’Neill called an “absolutely tragic case of friendly fire.”
Simonsen was the city’s first police officer to be killed in the line of duty since July 2017.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.