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officers are shot chasing suspect
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One, a woman, is struck in the jaw and is listed in critical condition
By JANICE L. HABUDA and ANTHONY CARDINALE
News Staff Reporters
12/6/2006
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Bill Wippert/Buffalo News
Buffalo police officials gathered at the scene of a shooting late Tuesday near Chippewa and Georgia streets that left Officers Patricia A. Parete and Carl E. Andolina wounded. Both were taken to Erie County Medical Center. Another photo on the Picture Page, C10.
Police Officer Carl E. Andolina
Two Buffalo police officers were shot at about 9 p.m. Tuesday while responding to a fight inside a gas station-store at West Chippewa Street and South Elmwood Avenue.
Officer Patricia A. Parete, 41, was shot in the jaw and undergoing surgery in Erie County Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition. Officer Carl E. Andolina, also 41, a five-year police veteran, reportedly was shot in the arm, the bullet traveling to his neck, and taken to ECMC, where he was listed in fair condition. Police took Varner Harris, whose age was either 19 or 20, into custody in Police Headquarters late Tuesday. The hallways of the facility were sectioned off with yellow crime tape where blood had dripped to the floor.
During a news briefing inside ECMC, Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson said the two officers were working together when they responded to a report of a fight inside a Valero gas-store outlet.
According to Gipson, the gunman fled on foot and shot at the officers near the corner of Chippewa Street and Whitney Place. Andolina continued to chase the suspect after he was shot and, with a bullet lodged in his neck, tackled the man and held him.
Police recovered a handgun they believe was used to shoot the officers. It was not known whether the officers returned fire. Gipson said officials were consulting with the district attorney's office to consider charges against the suspect, which would likely include assault and attempted murder.
The wounded officers were taken by ambulance to ECMC on the Kensington Expressway, which was briefly closed to all other traffic. Parete apparently showed no vital signs after being shot, but she was resuscitated at the hospital, Gipson said
Police officers and city officials, including Mayor Byron W. Brown, rushed to the hospital. Brown said his thoughts and prayers went out to the officers and their families.
From Delaware Avenue to Niagara Street, the area near the shooting scene was awash in flashing lights from seemingly every patrol car on duty Tuesday night. Police asked for a fire truck to return, so that its spotlight could be used to search for evidence near the southwest corner of Hutchinson-Central Technical High School.
Residents of Georgia Street, which was blocked off with crime scene tape at the intersection of Prospect Avenue, had to wait for police escorts to get to and from their homes. Groups of officers talked quietly among themselves and made calls on their cell phones, their expressions grim.
With a suspect in custody at Police Headquarters, a Spanish-speaking officer was asked to report to the Homicide Bureau.
This was the second time in three months that two police officers were shot while on duty in Western New York. In late August, Troopers Donald H. Baker Jr. and Joseph A. Longobardo were shot while searching for fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips in the Chautauqua County town of Stockton.
Longobardo died of injuries he sustained in the ambush and Baker is recovering at home near Albany. Phillips has pleaded guilty to murder and faces life in prison when he is sentenced later this month.
source: buffalonews.com
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