NYPD cop shot, robbery suspect dies after shooting outside New York mall as hundreds flee for safety: sources

An NYPD officer and an innocent bystander were shot and wounded, and a career criminal on life parole was killed in a shooting after the suspect allegedly robbed two Queens stores Tuesday night, police said.

Gary Worthy, 57, a parolee, allegedly robbed two local businesses, a winery and then a smokehouse, at gunpoint and fired one shot during each robbery, during which he demanded money before the fatal shooting.

Officers were looking for a suspect in connection with the first robbery when a witness pointed them to Worthy, who had just allegedly robbed a tobacco shop on Guy Brewer Boulevard in Jamaica, NYPD officials said.

Officers realized he matched the description of the suspect from the earlier robbery and ordered him to stop near the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 160th Street around 6:30 p.m.

Worthy – who has 17 convictions, including murder – instead fled and reportedly pulled out a firearm before shooting Officer Rich Wong, a seven-year veteran of the 103rd Precinct, in the thigh, police said.

Wong returned fire and shot Worthy once in the face. Police said he was pronounced dead at a hospital in Jamaica.

Officer Wong was also taken to hospital in Jamaica, as was a 26-year-old woman who was shot in the crossfire. Both are expected to return to full fitness.

The shooting left hundreds of terrified New Yorkers running for safety.

A mom who was picking up a pizza nearby said she heard a “loud bang” and initially thought the noise was from a construction site or a car shooting – until three more shots rang out and chaos quickly erupted in the busy apartment building.

“After that, there were three more loud bangs, and then I said, ‘Oh, it’s gunshots and I have to run,'” Jennifer Wilson said.

“So I looked around for a while – everyone had scattered. We all ran where we could, and then the police came and started blocking (the street).

She was shaken by the gunshots and couldn’t immediately go home because her car was on the other side of the taped off crime scene.

“I had an appointment here, I’m going to visit the children with dinner, with pizza, and it’s really terrible. “It’s very, very scary, very disturbing, very disturbing.”

Wilson said hundreds of people fled for their lives after shots rang out.

“Jamaica Avenue is busy. “It’s the busiest street in all of Queens and everyone is just walking around, minding their own business, probably on their way home like me, and (we) all just scattered like cockroaches,” she said. “It was crazy. It was really crazy.”

Dozens of officers responded to the scene of the shooting, and the suspect’s body was left “in a pile on the ground,” Wilson added.

According to police, Worthy was on life parole for a firearms conviction and was arrested just six days ago. He was also suspected of three recent armed robberies, but was released back on the streets after his latest arrest.

Additional information about Worthy’s previous murder charges was not immediately available, but Mayor Eric Adams said the career criminal had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Adams slammed the criminal justice system for his release following his recent arrest for drug possession and resisting arrest.

“We are angry because in two days we have witnessed the criminal justice system failing New Yorkers, the good people of this city,” Adams said.