Suspect in shooting had criminal record

The suspect arrested in connection with the shooting deaths of a Nassau police officer and a motorist Tuesday was on parole after serving five years in prison for an attempted murder in Queens, state records show.

Darrell Fuller, 33, of St. Albans, Queens, was paroled in 2010 on the 2004 attempted murder conviction, state records show, and it was to continue into 2015. He had pleaded guilty to shooting someone three times in the torso outside of Fuller's residence at that time, at 122-67 Montauk St., Queens. The victim survived but needed a colostomy bag as a result of the injuries, a law enforcement source said.

According to the source, Fuller violated his parole while in Nassau County. He was arrested on March 27, 2010, for criminal drug sale and possession, both felonies, and pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation, a misdemeanor, and received time served, records show. He had been in the Nassau jail from August 2010 to May 2011, the source said.

Tuesday night, an unmarked police car and a police van were parked outside the Springfield Gardens home of Patricia Fuller, 66, Darrell's mother.

She said she was unaware of her son's activities Tuesday and had last seen him in the morning. He was supposed to be going to kidney dialysis, she said.

"I don't know what's going on," she said.

Nassau police said the chain of events that led to the deaths of Officer Arthur Lopez, 29, and motorist Raymond Facey, 58, started when Darrell Fuller left a hospital. Lopez believed he saw Fuller getting into a car accident, police said, and chased after his car.

Patricia Fuller described her son as "a very quiet person. He didn't bother nobody."

She said police came to her house and told her that her son was in the hospital and had been shot. Asked how she feels, she said, "How can I feel? How can I feel?" and wiped her eyes. "I sit here and wonder. I'm praying."

"Everyone can't say anything because they are in shock," she said of her family's reaction.

Attorney Christopher Renfroe of Forest Hills, who represented Fuller in the attempted-murder case, said he was in Queens Court Tuesday when he heard about the shootings. "My condolences to the police officer's family," he said. Renfroe said he knew nothing about the latest case against his former client.