Monday, 8 February 2010

Newark

 

NJ police officer hurt in shootout at go-go bar

A teenager who was denied entry to a go-go bar after a bouncer questioned his ID card fired a shot into the foyer of the lounge, critically wounding a sheriff's officer, before being shot to death by the injured officer, police said Monday.

Darnell McNeil, 19, was shot and killed by Essex County Sheriff's Officer Lorenzo Zackery on Sunday night outside the Knockouts GoGo Lounge, police said.

Zackery, a 22-year veteran of the sheriff's office and a married father of three, is in critical but stable condition at University Hospital in Newark. He was shot once in the torso by McNeil, police said.

McNeil was denied entry to the go-go bar Sunday night by a bouncer who questioned his identification card, said Robert Laurino, acting Essex County prosecutor. McNeil returned 15 minutes later, opened the club door and fired into the foyer, striking Zackery, police said.

Zackery ran about 500 feet down the street after McNeil and fired his service weapon at McNeil before flagging down a Newark police car for help, Laurino said.

Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said Zackery was "fortunate to be alive'' after being shot at close range and attributed the officer's survival to him being a "workout fiend'' who once played football for the Washington Redskins and the Montreal Alouettes.

Officials do not know whether the 49-year-old Zackery was working security at the club or attending a Super Bowl party. Police are trying to determine how many shots he fired.

Officials did not release details about McNeil, saying only that he had no prior police record. They say he was struck by gunfire several times and died around 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

Police are conducting a routine investigation into whether the use of force was justified, Laurino said.

"We're not going to prejudge any case,'' Laurino said. "We'll go through the standard procedures.''

Newark, a city of about 280,000 residents, is safer than it was a few years ago but still is periodically convulsed by violence, like the execution-style slayings of three college-bound students in the summer of 2007.