Queens Man Gets 30 Years In NYPD Detective's Friendly Fire Death: DA

NEW YORK CITY — A Queens man will serve at least 30 years in prison for sparking a police standoff that led to an NYPD detective's friendly fire death, prosecutors said.

Jagger Freeman, 28, was sentenced Thursday after a jury found him guilty of murder, robbery, assault and other charges, according to Queens District Attorney's officials.

Along with another man — Christopher Ransom, 30 — Freeman stood accused of a robbing a Richmond Hill mobile home store in February 2019 with a fake gun. The robbery prompted a chaotic standoff with police, which ended in a hail of bullets from cops.

A bullet fired by a police officer fatally struck NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen in the chest, authorities said.

“The defendant orchestrated a string of robberies, the last of which
involved an imitation weapon and led to the tragic loss of Detective Brian Simonsen and the wounding of Sergeant Matthew Gorman," said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement.

The case began Feb. 12, 2019, when authorities said Freeman and Ransom walked into a T-Mobile store on 120th Street. Ransom held an imitation pistol and told employees to give up cash and merchandise, authorities said.

When police officers arrived, they found Ransom inside the store holding a gun that they believed to be real and opened fire after a standoff, prosecutors said.

Simonsen, a 19-year NYPD veteran from Long Island, died in the crossfire as cops shot more than 40 bullets, the New York Post reported.

Cops shot Ransom eight times, but he survived to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and receive a 33-year prison sentence, authorities said.

Freeman — who stood across the street as a lookout when the shooting occurred, the Post reported — opted for a trial, which ended with jurors in June finding him guilty of murder.

“For murder though? I didn’t do this sh–t,” Freeman yelled in the courtroom after the verdict, according to the Post's report.