EVEN THOUGH THE OFFICER WAS KILLED BY FRIENDLY FIRE, THE ROBBER SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN LIFE

Man behind Queens robbery that left detective dead will serve 33 years 

 

By Tina Moore

 

New York Post

October 20,  2021

 

 

Christopher Ransom pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and to a robbery charge 

The man responsible for a Queens phone store robbery that left an NYPD detective dead after he was struck by bullets fired by other police officers will serve 33 years in prison, officials said Wednesday.

Christopher Ransom, 30, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter for the 2019 death of NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. 

He also pleaded guilty to the Richmond Hill phone store robbery, where he pointed a fake gun at responding police officers.

“The defendant set in motion a terrible chain of events that began with a robbery and ended in a spray of bullets when Ransom pointed what appeared to be a deadly firearm toward police officers,” Katz said. 

“The defendant was repeatedly told to lower his weapon but did not do so,” Katz said. “The heartbreaking result was the loss of Detective Simonsen’s life and Sergeant Matthew Gorman being shot in the leg.”

 

                  NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen was shot and killed in 2019 

 

Katz said Ransom is expected to be sentenced to 33 years in prison at a hearing on Nov. 17, adding that she hoped the sentence would bring Simonsen’s family a “measure of closure.” 

Simonsen, 42, was killed in a volley of nearly four dozen bullets fired at Ransom, a career criminal, after police responded to reports of a robbery at a T-Mobile store on 120th Street on Feb. 12, 2019.

The NYPD veteran was killed by a single bullet to the chest. Ransom was shot eight times but survived.

 

                            Jagger Freeman enters a hearing in Queens in 2019

 

Jagger Freeman, 25, allegedly served as a lookout during the deadly encounter.

Gorman was seriously injured by a bullet to his left leg.

Detectives’ Endowment Association president Paul DiGiacomo pointed out that Simonsen had attended a union meeting that day and did not have to report to duty, but responded to the cellphone store anyway.

 

In this image taken from surveillance video, Christopher Ransom is shown robbing the T-Mobile store on Jan. 19, 2019

 

“Detective Brian Simonsen was a highly dedicated cop and DEA Delegate at work on his day off trying to bring justice to a crime victim,” he said.

“If not for Ransom committing a robbery that day in Queens, Brian would be with us today,” he said. “For that, Ransom should spend every waking moment of the next 33 years in jail thinking about the grief he caused so many.”