NYPD shooting suspect threatened to shoot another cop if released, DA says

The parolee charged with wounding two NYPD officers during a 12-hour shooting rampage in the Bronx over the weekend told arresting officers he was "tired of cops" and threatened to shoot another if released, prosecutors said Monday.

Robert Williams, 45, of Evergreen Avenue, was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court Monday afternoon and charged with more than a dozen counts each of first- and second-degree attempted murder. Williams also faces 12 counts of attempted assault, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest. 

Judge Joseph McCormack ordered Williams, who appeared in court with a swollen face and entered a not guilty plea, held without bail. More than 50 NYPD officers filled the small courtroom for Williams' 10-minute arraignment.

He allegedly stormed the 41st Precinct in the Bronx Sunday morning, shooting at cops and civilians, and striking Lt. Jose Gautreaux in the upper left arm. Gautreaux was released from a Bronx hospital earlier Monday.

The shooting came only hours after Williams ambushed a pair of officers sitting in a marked police van with its lights flashing, police said. Bullets grazed the chin and neck of Officer Paul Stroffolino.

Stroffolino and Gautreaux are both expected to make a full recovery.

After the shootings, union officials had harsh words for Williams, but also elected officials. Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, tweeted Monday that "members of the NYPD are declaring war" on de Blasio.

In court Monday, Assistant District Attorney Burim Namani said Williams told the arresting officers that he committed the two shootings because he was “tired of cops.”

Williams later told officers: “I am going to shoot one of you when I get out,” Namani said. Williams' court-appointed attorney, Thomas Klein, did not immediately return a telephone call or email for comment.

Gautreaux, a 15-year NYPD veteran, left Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx Monday to thunderous applause from more than 100 officers and local residents.

Wearing a sling over his left arm, Gautreaux put his hand to his heart and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd before entering a waiting black car with his mother and aunt. Gautreaux, a Bronx resident, smiled broadly and waved to the throng of onlookers.

“God bless you! May Jesus be with you,” shouted Joanne Guzman, 55, of Fordham Road, to Gautreaux.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea called it “a great day” after a horrific weekend of violence. 

“Jose is walking, springing from his wheelchair," Shea said. "It is through the grace of God that he stood up. It is unbelievable … He says he's ready to get back to work.”

The shootings began Saturday night when Williams shot at Stroffolino and his partner as they sat in the police van on Simpson Street, authorities said. Stroffolino, 31, was treated at Lincoln Medical Center and released Sunday to applause from Shea and dozens of police officers. 

Just before 8 a.m. Sunday, Williams entered the Bronx station house, pulled out a gun and opened fire at uniformed officers near the front-desk area, Shea said. He then walked into an area adjacent to the desk and fired several rounds at point-blank range at cops and a civilian employee, Shea said. 

During the exchange, Gautreaux was hit. The lieutenant returned fire but missed the suspect, Shea said. 

Williams has a lengthy criminal record with three felony convictions, officials said. He shot an individual in the Bronx in 2002, carjacked a vehicle from a woman, crashed it, then engaged in a gunfight with NYPD officers, police said. He was convicted of attempted murder after the 2002 incident and paroled in 2017, Shea said.

"We have to follow this case until we get justice, to make sure [Williams] stays behind bars for the rest of his life," said Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch, speaking Monday before a phalanx of uniformed cops and State Court officers.

The mayor and police commissioner also responded to Mullins' tweet where he also wrote that "NYPD cops have been assassinated because of [de Blasio]. This isn’t over, Game on!"

Shea said the rhetoric undermines unity in the city, and is "100 percent inappropriate. We need to come together with the community, which is behind us.” 

In Albany Monday, de Blasio said he was "disgusted" by Mullins' tweet.

“It is just so inappropriate," the mayor said. "It’s kind of hard to put into words what it says about things that are going wrong in our public discourse.”

Union officials have argued the city has become less safe because of new criminal justice laws, including bail reform, that went into effect Jan. 1. The new bail law was not a factor in the weekend shooting.

With Michael O'Keeffe and AP

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com,@BrodskyRobert,

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.