A heroic off-duty Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority cop got into a Wild West-style shootout Saturday with four armed thugs who tried to rob a Brooklyn auto-body shop -- blasting two of the suspects, authorities said.
Officer Anthony Presley, 39, was shot in the shoulder during the gun battle, but was not seriously wounded, law-enforcement sources said.
"I'm not really surprised, that's the type of person he is," his proud mother Loretta Presley told The Post.
"He's a hero. He's brave. If he could help anyone, he would."
The bloody skirmish began at around 8:30 p.m. inside the DSG Auto Repair on Albany Avenue near Atlantic Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The thugs barged in and announced a robbery, ordered Presley and the three civilians in the shop to lie on the ground.
When Presley, a 10-year veteran, saw that the suspects were rifling through people's pockets, he pulled out his service revolver, identified himself as a cop and ordered the thugs to drop their weapons, sources said.
It wasn't clear who fired first, but two robbers were shot and two escaped empty-handed.
Although initial reports said one of the thieves had died, a police spokesman said one was in critical condition at Interfaith Medical Center and another was in stable condition at Kings County.
Witnesses saw one of the men on the ground and thought he had died.
"People said, 'Oh, s- -t! He's dead.' " said one horrified onlooker. "[His] body was on the other side and the police were flipping the body over."
Presley, who works at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, was rushed to Kings County Hospital where he was in surgery last night. The father of two boys and a girl was listed in stable condition.
"He's a good guy, he's going to be alright," said one pal who was among a dozen friends and family members who gathered at the hospital.
His doctor told Presley's mom, "He's OK, he's in good shape."
The elder Presley said her son used to work as a school safety officer and "always wanted to be a cop."
One family friend told The Post that Presley "is a wonderful person. For Christmas, he goes to the hospital and gives gifts to kids."
One of the injured crooks has prior busts for weapons possession and reckless endangerment, sources said.
The other two thieves were at large last night. They fled in a gray Ford Windstar, sources said.
Republished with permission of The New York Post
