NYPD Officer Adeed Fayaz from Deer Park dies after off-duty shooting, officials say

Adeed Fayaz, the 26-year-old off-duty NYPD officer from Deer Park who was shot in the head during a robbery attempt in Brooklyn over the weekend, died late Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

Fayaz, a married father with two children, died at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, where he had been listed in critical condition since his arrival after the shooting.

"Police Officer Adeed Fayaz was a father, a husband, a son, and a protector of our great city," NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a tweet. "Officer Fayaz was shot Saturday night and he tragically succumbed to his injuries today. Our Department deeply mourns his passing, and his family and loved ones are in our prayers."

On Tuesday evening, hundreds of uniformed officers gathered at the entrance of the hospital for a dignified transfer ceremony. There were NYPD and FDNY vehicles parked around the area, emergency lights flashing. There were helicopters buzzing overhead and some neighborhood bystanders. Police officers hugged each other and shook hands.

Sewell, other top-ranking officers as well as members of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, the cops' union, were at the hospital Tuesday evening.

Just a few hours earlier, NYPD officials had identified Randy Jones, a 38-year-old New York City man, as the Fayaz's alleged shooter. They said Fayaz was the victim of a botched robbery attempt in eastern Brooklyn just before 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Jones has been charged with murder and attempted robbery, the police said. No arraignment information was available as of Tuesday night.

Funeral plans for Fayaz, who was an immigrant from Pakistan who had worked with the NYPD for five years, were also pending. 

On Tuesday morning, police said Jones had been arrested at a Days Inn in Nanuet in Rockland County where he had been staying with a woman, presumably his girlfriend, and five children, NYPD chief of detectives James Essig told reporters at a news conference.

Jones, who police said comes from Brooklyn but has been also linked to an apartment in Manhattan, was tracked by city and federal investigators taking part in the U.S. Marshals regional fugitive task force, Sewell told reporters.

“We will relentlessly pursue anyone who carries an illegal firearm or shoots someone in this city,” Sewell told reporters at the earlier news conference.

When Jones was taken into custody, he was restrained with Fayaz’s own set of handcuffs, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.

Jones allegedly fired and mortally wounded Fayaz as the officer and his brother-in-law traveled to Ruby Street in eastern Brooklyn with the expectation they were going to complete the purchase of a Honda Pilot which had been marketed on the internet, Essig said.

Jones asked "jokingly" if Fayaz and his brother-in-law, who was not identified by police, were carrying a gun, Essig said.  When the two men said they weren’t armed, Jones suddenly put Fayaz in a headlock, pointed a gun at the officer's head and demanded the money, Essig said.

When Fayaz said he didn’t have the money, Essig said, events quickly escalated.  Jones pointed his gun at the brother-in-law and after Fayaz broke free of the headlock, the suspect fired his handgun, striking the officer in the head, the police said.

Police said Fayaz’s brother-in-law then removed the officer’s service weapon from his holster and fired at least six times at the fleeing Jones, who drove away in a black BMW.

The key break in the case proved to be a dashcam video in the brother-in-law's vehicle, a TLC car, which captured the license plate of Jones’ vehicle when Fayaz and his relative pulled up to Ruby Street, Essig said.

The dashcam video allowed detectives and members of the regional fugitive task force to track Jones’ BMW vehicle to upper Manhattan, according to police. The car turned out to be registered to Jones’ mother, who lives in Brooklyn, the police said.

At 10:55 p.m. Saturday, nearly four hours after Fayaz was shot, surveillance showed Jones leaving a Manhattan apartment on Park Avenue with a woman and five children, Essig said.

Jones, the woman and the children, ranging in age from 6 months to 11 years, got into an Acura and drove off, Essig said.

Computer and video analysis tracked the Acura to the Days Inn in Nanuet, where Jones was taken into custody Monday while the woman — who Essig described as a girlfriend of Jones — was not charged.  Police said Jones asked for an attorney and made no statements.

Outside Brookdale Hospital Tuesday night, PBA President Patrick Lynch said Fayaz loved his job.

“Since he was a young person, he wanted to become not just a police officer, a New York City police officer," Lynch said. "This hospital did herculean efforts to bring him back, but sometimes it is out of our hands. 

“What you saw here today was police officers from all around the city standing shoulder to shoulder, patch to patch, with tears in their eyes. Not tears in their eyes for themselves, tears in their eyes for their brother.”