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Jul-23-2008After Fleeing Psychiatric Unit, Ex-Officer Is Killed in a Gunfight ...(topic overview)
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- He was facing a drumbeat of questioning from police detectives and FBI investigators about his role in the mob-tied murder of his longtime friend, and on Monday night, his family checked him into the psychiatric ward of Bayley Seton Hospital. Yesterday morning, police said, Jason Aiello snapped under the pressure, sparking a gunfight with two cops outside his Rosebank house that turned St. Mary's Avenue into a virtual shooting gallery and ended in his death. All while his family watched. Law enforcement sources believe Aiello, 38 -- a retired police sergeant and the former bodyguard of Louis Antonelli, a jeweler from Grasmere who was fatally shot in West Brighton April 29 -- was looking to commit "suicide by cop" when he fired eight shots at an NYPD sergeant and patrol officer. The two officers responded by firing 19 shots of their own, hitting Aiello three times -- once in the chest, twice in the shoulder -- as he sat in the driver's seat of his cousin's silver SUV, said Paul Browne, NYPD deputy commissioner of public information. [1] Associated Press Writer July 22, 2008 NEW YORK - A retired police sergeant whose erratic behavior frightened his family into committing him to a psychiatric hospital fled the ward Tuesday and was killed by officers during a gun battle outside his home. The barrage of gunfire turned a Staten Island neighborhood into a virtual shooting gallery, with officers firing 19 shots at the distraught former officer, who died within a few feet of his three children, ages 3, 5 and 7. The episode came hours after Jason Aiello's cousins and wife took him to the psych ward because they were concerned about his increasingly bizarre behavior. Aiello kept quoting Scripture and said he needed to get away and wanted to take his family out of the city for safety's sake, police said. Aiello had worked as a bodyguard and driver for a jeweler who was gunned down in a possible mob hit in April, and he had been questioned recently about the slaying, prosecutors said. It's unclear whether that episode contributed to his emotional unraveling. The hospital where Aiello was committed Monday night called 911 Tuesday morning, reported he had walked out and said he likely had access to weapons. Shortly after, Aiello's mother called 911, reporting he was holding his wife and three children hostage at his home. When two officers from Aiello's former precinct responded, he was in the street arguing with his wife about taking the children away, police said.[2]
Suspected of setting up his best friend for a mob hit, a retired NYPD sergeant armed with a gun and a Bible went berserk Tuesday before cops killed him in front of his wife and kids. The death of Jason Aiello in a blizzard of two dozen bullets capped a dramatic chain of events that began with a "crazed" visit to FBI headquarters and ended with his escape from a Staten Island psych ward. The 36-year-old father of three apparently suffered an epic mental meltdown in which he spouted Scripture, tried to abduct his pajama-clad kids and then fired on police, authorities said. He fired eight shots; cops fired 19. "He wanted to fight it out, and if not, go down in a blaze of glory," a police source said as Aiello's family accused authorities of hounding him into a nervous breakdown and using "excessive" force to subdue him. Aiello, a 12-year veteran who retired with a knee injury in 2006, had been under scrutiny since his jeweler pal Louis Antonelli was gunned down in a restaurant parking lot April 29.[3]
Oates for News 'It looks like suicide by cop,' a police source said of Aiello's death Tuesday morning. He was shot by police when he refused to drop his weapon. A retired NYPD sergeant was shot and killed by police this morning after the raving ex-cop opened fire on officers outside his Staten Island home, sources said. Jason Aiello, under investigation by both the NYPD and the FBI for his possible role in the April murder of his former employer, screamed at officers as he waved his 9 mm handgun.[4] NEW YORK -- Police officers fatally shot a retired sergeant on Staten Island Tuesday morning in what might be a case of "suicide by cop," a law enforcement source said. The dead man, retired NYPD sergeant Jason Aiello, had been under local and federal investigation in connection with a mob-related hit in April of a jeweler he had been body guarding, the source said.[5]
STATEN ISLAND (CBS) Law enforcement sources confirmed what friends and neighbors saw and heard; that the man killed in the fatal Tuesday morning police-involved shooting on St. Mary's Avenue was retired NYPD Sergeant Jason Aiello. Police say the 36-year-old got into a shootout with the officers in front of his St. Mary's Avenue home, with his wife and three young children nearby. "It's crazy. I can't understand how all of this happened like that," said neighbor Josephine Rodriguez.[6]
"I came back, I'd gone to the store for some coffee, and I saw all the cop cars and I thought first that somebody had a heart attack," said neighbor Tony Rivella. "It was just a mess over here." Police say two 911 calls brought them to retired police Sergeant Jason Aiello's home: the first just before 7 a.m. for shots fired; the second minutes later for a domestic dispute. Sources say police arrived at the scene to find the 36-year-old Aiello, gun in hand, outside the home with his wife and three kids. Officers could be heard over police scanners telling him several times to drop the weapon. They say Aiello fired first and the officers fired back, and at least one shot struck and killed him.[7] Police say that Aiello shot up to seven times at a sergeant and police officer called to St. Mary's Avenue shortly before 7 a.m. The two officers, who were not struck, fired a total of 19 shots in return, hitting Aiello three times, police said. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Richmond University Medical Center, police said. Authorities are still sorting out the details but apparently Aiello had refused police orders to drop his weapons, the source said. The police sergeant on the scene had managed to remove one of Aiello's guns from the small of his back, police said. When the sergeant tried to handcuff Aiello, he broke free, ran across the street and began firing at the officers from a second gun, at one point shooting from inside a parked car, police said. The NYPD said they recovered two 9mm semi automatics from the scene. "This could be suicide by cop or it could be that he was just emotionally disturbed and menacing cops with a gun," said the source. Aiello's relatives were shocked that he would have exchanged fire with police officers. "This is horrible, This kid, I'm telling you something happened," said Aiello's uncle, Thomas Olsen. "This kid did not have that type of personality." "Huge surprise," said his cousin, Jessica Statile.[5]
He'd escaped from a psychiatric hospital less than 30 minutes before unloading at least seven bullets at cops who fired 19 back - shattering almost every window in the vehicle and striking Aiello in the head and back. Cops had seized a 9 mm pistol from Aiello and were arresting him when he pulled a second gun and opened fire while sprinting toward the SUV, police said. The retired NYPD sergeant and bodyguard for slain jeweler Louis Antonelli had cracked under the pressure of an FBI investigation linking him to the suspected mob-ordered hit of his boss in April, said his family. "The investigation was weighing on him more than you can imagine," said his cousin Doug Miglino. "It was killing him." "He knew he was having a nervous breakdown," said his mom, Maureen Zavarelli, 59. "He couldn't take the pressure anymore. He was getting nervous and paranoid."[8] The former sergeant was on the force for 12 years and retired in 2006 on disability because of a knee injury, police said. He apparently had no history of emotional problems. He had recently worked as a bodyguard for his friend, jeweler Louis Antonelli, who was gunned down outside a Staten Island restaurant in April. FBI officials said they believe Antonelli had a business relationship with members of the Genovese crime family, and the hit may have been ordered by one or more members of the family.[9] "The last person you would think that something like could happen to." Aiello had been with jeweler Louis Antonelli on April 29th in West Brighton when two men ambushed and shot him in the chest in what the FBI believes was a hit sanctioned by the Genovese crime family. Authorities charged two Staten Island men with the killing but continue to investigate details of the case, including whether Aiello may have set up his client to be killed, sources said. Aiello, who had been longtime friends with the jeweler, had uncharacteristically failed to carry his gun that April evening when the hit men surprised Antonelli, 43, outside the El Sabor Tropical restaurant, the source said.[5] It wasn't long after jeweler Louis Antonelli was ambushed in a Staten Island parking lot that police began to wonder if ex-cop Jason Aiello had something to do with it. Friends for almost 20 years, the two men often traveled together - Antonelli with a cache of gems and Aiello with his guns to keep them safe. On the night of April 29, Aiello wasn't armed, even though they'd just picked up $200,000 worth of jewelry. Their stop at the El Sabor Tropical restaurant wasn't scheduled, and the shooters didn't take the jewels or $9,000 in cash. "No one believed his tale that it was some random botched robbery," a law enforcement source said.[10]
"We went to eat. Nobody would have known he had the jewelry. "This guy has got money. He has nothing to do with the mob. He doesn't owe anything to the mob. He's got his own money." He told the Staten Island Advance he wasn't a bodyguard - just a devoted pal. "He had an anxiety problem," he said of the jeweler. "He always had to be around people. It wasn't a bodyguard thing. I'm his close friend, and he needed to be with somebody." Aiello, who graduated from Curtis High School and was a paramedic before he became a cop, had known Antonelli since he was 17 and bought his first car from him. They were family men with shared interests in law enforcement. Antonelli wanted to be a cop before he went into the jewelry business, and he had ties to a local police benevolent association. Aiello spent a dozen years in the NYPD, working in the 68th and 120th precincts and other units, racking up an unremarkable 46 arrests before he retired in 2006. His father was an ex-con who died in 1979 after being sprung from prison. Aiello got married eight years ago and moved his family in with his mother and stepfather. The family said he was haunted by the idea that the police - and possibly Antonelli's family - thought he was involved. "They kept asking him about Lou. They kept harassing him," said cousin Doug Miglino. "He didn't even go to the funeral because the police turned family on him." His mother, Maureen Zavarelli, said when the FBI turned up the heat last week, he cracked. "He didn't take the pressure," she said. "He was losing it."[10] The cops who were shot at, Sgt. Raul Irizarry and Officer Keith Stroming, were not hurt. Aiello, a 15-year NYPD veteran who retired in 2006, was at the center of a federal investigation into the Genovese crime family after Antonelli, 43, was shot and killed by two men as he left a Staten Island restaurant after dining with Aiello.[8]
Aiello had been with the NYPD for 12 years and retired in 2006 with a knee injury. On Monday night, his family took him to the psychiatric ward at Bayley Seton Hospital on Staten Island because he was delusional and depressed, said his lawyer, Peter Antioco, of Jamaica, Queens. Aiello left about 6:30 a.m. yesterday and the hospital called 911, aware that he had been a police officer and had guns.[11] A preliminary investigation showed the officers faced an imminent threat of serious physical injury or death. Aiello's family members and their attorney disputed the NYPD's account and say police used "more than excessive" force. Attorney Peter Antioco told the Staten Island Advance that Aiello's wife took the gun away from her husband while they were in the car and yelled at police not to shoot.[12] The cousin's vehicle was riddled with bullets, but no neighboring homes were hit. Aiello's family members and their attorney say police used "more than excessive" force, and they disputed the NYPD's account. Attorney Peter Antioco told the Staten Island Advance that the first gun was removed by a family member before police arrived, and that Aiello's wife took the second gun away from her husband while they were in the car and yelled at the police not to shoot.[9]
A Bible-thumping, crazed ex-cop died in a gun battle with police as his children watched in horror in front of their Staten Island home today, police said. Jason Aiello let loose a barrage of bullets while his wife cowered next to him in an SUV riddled with police shots.[8]
"Jason, drop the gun!" at least one of the responding officers hollered. Aiello was warned a second and third time, but instead of dropping the weapon, he started shooting. Police returned fire and fatally struck Aiello in the head as his wife and three terrified children, ages 7, 4 and 2, watched in horror. "He was a cop," a police source said. "He knew what to do when ordered to drop his weapon. It looks like suicide by cop." Officers raced to Aiello's home after at least three 911 callers reported a crazed gunman threatening his family, sources said.[4] Aiello shot at least five more times from inside the SUV and cops returned fire, hitting the ex-cop three times. His wife was uninjured. A lawyer for the Aiello family accused the cops of excessive force, saying that Rachel Aiello yelled, "I have the gun, stop shooting," but the police continued to fire at them and questioned whether Aiello actually shot at the police.[13]
The officers returned fire as Aiello got into the car; one officer fired nine times, the other 10. Aiello's wife ran to the SUV amid the gunfire and got in the passenger's side to try to stop her husband, police said. The retired officer fired six more times before he was killed. He was hit twice in the shoulder and back and was grazed in the head, police said.[12] The altercation outside the house nearly ended quietly after a sergeant grabbed Jason Aiello's gun and started to frisk and handcuff him. Police said Aiello broke free and with a second gun he had on him fired twice at the sergeant and an officer. The two officers weren't hit, and they took cover. "Jason, put down the gun!" the sergeant was heard yelling over his radio, police said. Police said Aiello, 36, opened fire at least five more times as he got into his cousin's Lincoln SUV across the street.[11]
A nurse at Bayley Seton Hospital called cops after Aiello, 36, walked out of the facility. He came home to St. Mary's Avenue clutching a black bible and preaching scripture, neighbors said. "He was saying, 'Follow me, I am the chosen one,' " said a neighbor. Another 911 call came from Aiello's mother, urging cops to respond after he took his wife, Rachel, and their three kids "hostage." Cops found him in the street with his wife, bundling his children, aged 7, 5 and 3, into a minivan. "Do you believe in God?" he asked one officer before he opened fire, cops said. "He fired off two rounds, missed the police officers, and jumped into his cousin's SUV," said a police source. "His wife jumped into the passenger seat. She was afraid he was going to take off."[8] Aiello left the police force after a knee injury. Those who knew him described him as a family man, who lived with his wife and three children in the same house as his parents. "The kid never had that type of personality, the whole time I've known him - young teenager to present ' I've never seen him to act in an aggressive manner, ever," said Aiello's uncle Thomas Olsen. Off camera, one eyewitness said she heard Aiello out on the street before the shooting, yelling, "I am the chosen one! Let's go to the promised land!" and carrying a bible. Sources say there is speculation that he wanted police to kill him in what's known as "suicide by cop". Family and neighbors said they were shocked to hear of the incident.[7]
The jeweler was killed in what the FBI thinks may have been a FBI hit?????????? What????? C'mon Jen. Read the Daily News story this morning for a good take on it. My feeling is that he was filled with guilt for having set up his best friend for a mob hit and that drove him over the edge. His family claimed that it was a random killing and the cops dogging him over his possible involvement in his friend's murder is what made him nuts, but that doesn't sound right. Then again, the family also said the cops overreacted by shooting him when he in fact shot eight times at the police. They said that the cops put his wife's life in danger (she was crouching next to him in the car when he was shot, trying to grab the car keys away) when in fact the passenger's window near her was the only window that wasn't shot out. Their attorney says that the nutjob didn't shoot at all when he actually fired eight times. They don't have a whole lot of credibility.[13]
The shooting, which police said appeared to be within departmental guidelines, occurred against a most unusual backdrop: Aiello worked as a bodyguard for Louis Antonelli, 43, a jeweler who had been gunned down in West Brighton, Staten Island, in April in what investigators said was a mob hit.[11] Authorities say Aiello was the bodyguard of a prominent jeweler, Louis Antonelli, who was gunned down outside a Staten Island restaurant in April.[14] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The truth of how Grasmere jeweler Louis Antonelli met his end may have died with Jason Aiello. Although he was never charged in the April slaying, Aiello wasn't off the hook with investigators, who were looking into whether the ex-cop had set up the man he had been paid to protect. Aiello was presumably the only one who knew he and Antonelli would be at the El Sabor Tropical restaurant in West Brighton.[15]
Aiello's wife had already gotten the couple's three children - son, 7, and daughters, ages 2 and 4 - into a car to escape when the officers arrived, sources said. Aiello's name surfaced on April 29 after his boss, Louis Antonelli, a jeweler and his longtime friend, was gunned down outside El Sabor Tropical in West Brighton. Antonelli, 43, had more than $200,000 worth of jewelry with him when he was shot, but the loot was not touched.[4] A motive is still unclear. It's possible Aiello's past may have been troubling him. He was the private bodyguard for jeweler and alleged Genovese crime family associate Louis Antonelli. He was sitting in a local restaurant in April when Antonelli was gunned down in the parking lot.[6] Aiello was present and the FBI has been investigating that case, suspecting that jeweler Louis Antonelli, who may have worked with the the Genovese crime family, could have been targeted by the mob.[16]
Aiello's death comes just months after the murder of jeweler Louis Antonelli.[7]
There was another police-involved shooting this morning: Around 7AM, retired NYPD sergeant Jason Aiello, who had escaped from a hospital's psychiatric ward, was outside his home in Rosebank, " armed with a few weapons and screaming." Police say they repeatedly asked Aiello to drop his weapons, but when he didn't, he was shot in the head. [16] A retired police sergeant wielding a gun was shot to death by police early Tuesday morning outside his home in the Rosebank section of Staten Island after fleeing a psychiatric facility following a bizarre chain of events.[7] The incident occurred as police responded to a call of shots fired at 36-year-old Jason Aiello's Staten Island home around 6:40 a.m.[14] Cops responded to a home in Staten Island where they found Jason Aiello, a former NYPD Sgt. acting irrationally in the street, waving a handgun.[6]
Sources tell Fox 5's Andre Hepkins, that the retired cop is Jason Aiello. His wife and three children were in the area when he was shot and killed.[17] Sources said the late jeweler had done business with the Genovese family. Untouched at his murder scene was his SUV filled with jewelry and cash. Aiello had served with the NYPD for 12 years and retired early on a disability after injuring his knee, police said.[5] Antioco and Aiello's family said the hospital was at fault for allowing Aiello to leave. The hospital denied the accusation, saying Aiello was in a locked waiting area and pushed his way out. A short time later, his mother and a neighbor called 911 because Aiello had returned to his Rosebank home, and was trying to force his family to go to another home in the Poconos, police said. Rachael Aiello managed to hide the keys to the family's Toyota minivan and said she tossed Aiello's gun from the Lincoln. She said she threw it from the SUV as police were firing, however officials say the gun was thrown from the vehicle after the firing stopped.[11] Tuesday morning, neighbors say, Aiello was uncharacteristically agitated. "I saw him when he was fighting in the street with his wife. He wasn't fighting. He was screaming and yelling," said store owner Mote Fadel, "he looked upset. He was talking to somebody in a car." A family friend told CBS 2's Jay Dow off camera that Aiello was under a lot of pressure, and went to the hospital Monday night because he was "stressed." The family friend went on to say that Aiello came home from the hospital and "went to go get his gun."[6] Aiello, 36, carrying two guns, had been yelling in front of his family's Rosebank home Tuesday morning after slipping out of a psychiatric ward at nearby Bayley Seton Hospital, sources said.[5]
"I just found out about 20 minutes ago and I can't really talk," said one distressed family member. Two nine-millimeter handguns, both Aiello's, were recovered at the scene. Authorities are looking into another police-involved shooting early Tuesday morning, this one in Brooklyn. Sources tell NY1 that police approached Evan Kali Ahmed, 34, near Tompkins and Vernon Avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant after a woman said he was violating a domestic order of protection.[7] Oates for News 'It looks like suicide by cop,' a police source said of Aiello's death Tuesday morning. He was shot by police when he refused to drop his weapon.[3]
The feds were also checking whether Aiello and one of the two men later charged with Antonelli's murder had gambling debts to the mob, sources said. After the FBI called in Aiello for questioning last week, he started to become unglued, police and relatives said. He showed up at 26 Federal Plaza without an appointment on Monday to speak with the agent assigned to the case but couldn't get in because he was armed. The agent came downstairs to speak with him and found Aiello was "crazed," a law enforcement source said. "He was losing his bearings on who was after him and who wasn't."[3] Law enforcement sources tell CBS 2 that federal and local authorities have been investigating whether Aiello played a role in Antonelli's murder.[6]
"Everybody was watching Aiello. He was under a great, big spotlight," a law enforcement source said. "Apparently, he couldn't take it."[4]
Aiello was named in an FBI investigation of the killing, which sources say may be mob-related. Sources say Aiello was extremely distraught over the case and had checked himself into Bayley Seton Psychiatric Center Monday night, but left again hours before he was shot, pushing his way out of a locked waiting room when the door was opened to move another patient. "We told the hospital he's an officer of the law, he's having delusions, there are weapons in the house," said Aiello's cousin Doug Miglino. "They assured us that he was there for observations and he couldn't get out and they'd call us first."[7] Officers fired a total of 19 shots. EMS transported Aiello to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.[14]
Police reportedly observed a firearm and removed it from Aiello's lower back area. While attempting to search and handcuff the suspect, police say he broke free, produced a second gun and fired a total of eight rounds at the officers.[14] An attorney for Aiello's family says that's not the way it happened. 'He was in the car, the wife was in the car, he put the gun down, the wife grabbed the gun, threw it out and the police continued to fire even though she told them, 'Listen, he's dead. He doesn't have the gun. Stop shooting.' And they continued to shoot,' said lawyer Pete Antioco.[7] Aiello's wife, Rachael, who was sitting in the passenger seat, ducked for cover and was not harmed. Aiello's family and their attorney insist Aiello was not suicidal, and they blame police officers for using "more than excessive" force.[1]
MyFoxNY.com -- Police responding to calls of a domestic dispute on Staten Island ended up shooting and killing a former police officer. Cops say two officers opened fire on the man after he shot at them.[17] NEW YORK -- Police on Staten Island are investigating a shooting early Tuesday that involved two officers ' one active duty and the other retired.[18]
ROSEBANK (WABC) -- A retired police sergeant who was questioned after a possible mob slaying was been killed by NYPD officers during a gun battle early Tuesday.[14] When police arrived to the home, a retired NYPD officer was outside in the street waving a gun.[18]
The couple's children were in the family minivan on the street. Officers trying to handcuff him said Aiello broke free and pulled out a gun.[12] The couple's 7-year-old son and 5- and 3-year-old daughters were in the family minivan on the street. Officers who tried to restrain him said they took a handgun from a holster on his back, but as they were trying to handcuff Aiello, he broke free and pulled out another gun.[2]
The officers sought cover from behind parked cars across the street and returned fire, striking Aiello three times.[14] Aiello shot at least five more times from inside the SUV and cops returned fire, hitting the ex-cop three times. His wife was uninjured. "It was like a gunfight at the OK Corral," said the Aiello family's lawyer, Peter Antioco, who accused the cops of using excessive force.[8]
Aiello let Antonelli walk out of the restaurant alone. Even though he worked as an armed bodyguard, Aiello wasn't carrying a gun the night of the shooting. In an exclusive interview with the Advance last month, Aiello denied any involvement in the April 29 shooting, and said he didn't know any of the men who had been charged in connection with the crime. "I don't know these two kids, the third kid, I have no idea," Aiello said, referring to Charles Santiago and Joesph Gencarelli, who are charged with murder in connection with the shooting, and Christopher Prince, who's accused of trying to extort money from Gencarelli. "Only I knew we were going to be there, and I don't know these guys," Aiello said. "So I'm just saying, whenever it does come out, you'll write about that, you know, how they found out. Because they definitely didn't find out from me." Aiello had never been charged in connection with Antonelli's death, but investigators had regarded him with a skeptical eye in the weeks following, and had questioned him several times.[15] Aiello, a sometime bodyguard for the jeweler, was inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting and wasn't hurt. Antonelli died May 12 from his wounds.[4]
Aiello was working as Antonelli's bodyguard and was inside a restaurant when Antonelli was gunned down outside back in April.[7]
Two men have been charged with the slaying of Antonelli - who the FBI says was an associate of the Genovese crime family - but Aiello's possible role in the killing has also been called into question. Aiello wasn't armed April 29, as he normally would have been, and remained inside the El Sabor Tropical Restaurant when Antonelli left and was ambushed.[11] Investigators are probing whether Antonelli, 43, had mob ties and was executed on the order of the Genovese crime family. They suspected Aiello - who was with him that night but was not carrying a gun - set him up.[3] Investigators believed Antonelli had business ties to members of the Genovese crime family and that the mob may have ordered or sanctioned the shooting.[10]
Federal and city officials are looking into whether the jeweler had business dealings with members of the Genovese crime family and if the murder was a mob hit.[14]
Family members say Aiello had been checked into the psychiatric ward at Bayley Seaton Hospital Monday night. They say they later received a call that he had walked out, though it is unknown how he was able to get out. [14] "When you have no one to talk to, you start talking to God." The family was so disturbed by his descent into madness that at 6 p.m. Monday his wife, Rachel, 35, and cousin Billy Frasco, 39, took him to the psych ward at Bayley Seton Hospital. He was admitted a few hours later and told he would be kept for three days. He was cooperative at first, but at 6:35 a.m. Tuesday, he suddenly bolted, fleeing from a locked waiting area when the doors were briefly opened to let in another patient, a hospital spokeswoman said.[3]
Back home, Aiello was delusional, almost possessed. At the local deli, he babbled about being an "instrument of God" and hearing voices. "Follow me! I'm the chosen one," he told neighbors, clasping a black Bible. "He had no one to talk to," said cousin Doug Miglino, explaining Aiello was isolated after his friend's slaying.[3]
Doug Miglino, Aiello's cousin, said Rachael Aiello screamed at the officers to stop firing while taking cover in the SUV during the shooting. She was unharmed.[11]
The hospital had called 911 and officers had been searching the Clifton neighborhood around the hospital for Aiello, police said.[5] The first two were reportedly fired while Aiello stood next to a parked SUV. The remaining six were fired from inside the vehicle, police said.[14]
The couple's three children - a boy, 7, and two girls, 5 and 3 - were in the family's minivan across the street from the house, but were not harmed. Aiello's Bible - he had recently been talking about the afterlife and thought he was the "chosen one," according to police and neighbors - was found nearby.[11] WABC 7 suggests it could have been "suicide by cop," and the police told the Advance Aiello's children were "in the immediate vicinity."[16]
Six weeks after the shooting, cops charged two men, Joseph Gencarelli and Charles Santiago, 25, with the murder. Aiello insisted he didn't know either man, protested his innocence and doubted there was a mob connection. "I didn't have nothing to do with this," he told the Daily News.[10]
Aiello had worked as a bodyguard for a Staten Island jeweler who was gunned down in May.[16] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When the first call came into the NYPD communications center at 1 Police Plaza in Manhattan yesterday morning, the 120th Precinct sector car that covers St. Mary's Avenue in Rosebank was on assignment.[19]
Police say Ahmed ran and ducked behind a car. According to sources, police opened fire when Ahmed was seen touching his waist and would not follow police orders to show his hands. He was shot in the shoulder.[7]
Antonelli's $9,000 in cash and three chests of jewelry were left untouched, leading authorities to immediately rule out a robbery. Authorities are investigating why Aiello forced them to open fire, suspecting this may have been a case of suicide by cop. [14] The children were taken away by relatives around noon while Aiello's wife and parents, who share a home with them, remained at the scene.[1]
SOURCES
1. Blazing gunfight seals his death wish - SILive.com
2. Retired policeman shot and killed by NYPD -- Newsday.com
3. Unhinged ex-sergeant holding bible and gun is slain by cops in front of family
4. Retired NYPD sergeant fatally shot by cop in Staten Island
5. Retired Officer Killed In Possible 'Suicide By Cop' - News Story - WNBC | New York
6. wcbstv.com - Ex-NYPD Sgt. Shot, Killed In Cop-Involved Shooting
7. NY1: Top Stories
8. New York Post
9. Ex-policeman flees psych ward, is killed by NYPD -- Newsday.com
10. Jason Aiello was haunted by suspicions
11. Officers shoot, kill retired cop questioned in mob hit -- Newsday.com
12. The Associated Press: Retired policeman killed in gun battle with NYPD
13. Gothamist: Details in Police Shooting Death of Ex-Cop
14. 7online.com: 7online.com: Police involved shooting in the Rosebank section of Staten Island 7/22/08
15. FRIEND MAINTAINED INNOCENCE TO THE END - SILive.com
16. Gothamist: Cops Fatally Shoot Retired Cop on Staten Island
17. MyFox New York | Cops Shoot Retired Police Officer On Staten Island
18. Retired Officer, Active-Duty Police Involved In S.I. Shooting - News Story - WNBC | New York
19. Cops live, die by split-second decisions - SILive.com
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