An NYPD detective from Lynbrook and a shooting suspect he was chasing traded at least 16 shots at close range in a Harlem subway station Tuesday, leaving the cop wounded and the gunman dead.
Det. Kevin Herlihy, shot in the arm, was expected to be released from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
It was the second time in two weeks that an NYPD officer from Long Island survived a gunshot wound.
Officer Kevin Brennan, 28, of Garden City Park, was shot in the head in Brooklyn during a late-night struggle with a gunman Jan. 31. He was released from the hospital Friday.
Another NYPD officer from the Island, Peter Figoski, 47, of West Babylon, was fatally shot in the face Dec. 12 while responding to a robbery call in Brooklyn.
"Fortunately, we had another miraculous outcome today, with an officer shot at close range, just 10 feet away," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said during a news conference at the hospital.
"He not only survived, but was able to stop his assailant from shooting anyone else," the commissioner said.
Kelly praised Herlihy's actions as "good old-fashioned courage."
Herlihy, 47, had been part of a team of Queens detectives tailing the suspect, Michael McBride, 52, on W. 145th Street near St. Nicholas Avenue.
McBride was wanted on an arrest warrant for shooting his girlfriend's daughter in the head, critically wounding her, the day before in Rockaway Park, Queens, Kelly said.
Apparently realizing that police were on his trail, McBride ran into the 145th Street subway station shortly after 4 p.m., police said.
In a confrontation on the station's mezzanine, McBride fired his .22-caliber revolver three to six times -- striking Herlihy in the left biceps, Kelly said.
Herlihy returned fire with 13 shots. McBride, mortally wounded in the chest, staggered part way up a stairway toward the street and collapsed. He was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital.
Kelly said there were no crowds of subway riders near the shootout. "It appears to be a fairly isolated location," he said.
Herlihy and his wife, Adrienne, have two sons, 11 and 6, and a 13-month-old daughter, Bloomberg said.
McBride was being sought on a warrant in the shooting of the 25-year-old daughter of his girlfriend at 320 Beach 100th St. in Rockaway Park on Monday afternoon. McBride shot the woman once in the head after the two argued in the hallway, police said.
She was in "very critical condition" Tuesday at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
McBride had an extensive arrest history and was on parole for robbery, Kelly said. He lived at 159 W. 145th St., a short distance from the shooting.
Herlihy's neighbors in Lynbrook called the 18-year NYPD veteran a good neighbor who helps people shovel snow and dotes on his new daughter.
"He's really warm and engaging," said Michele Delvecchio, who lives across the street.
With Anthony M. DeStefano and Kery Murakami
Copyright 2012 - Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
