CUNY Security Guard Killed After Shooting 2 Cops In Queens

SPRINGFIELD GARDENS, QUEENS — Two NYPD officers were shot in Queens midday Tuesday in an exchange of gunfire with a CUNY peace officer whose wife had just reported a domestic violence incident, according to police officials.

The suspect, 41-year-old Rondell Goppy, was killed in the shootout.

The officers were responding to a call of a domestic incident at a Springfield Gardens home about 12:45 p.m. when Goppy ambushed them and started shooting, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a news briefing.

The officers were rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where they were awake and stable Tuesday afternoon but require surgery, Shea said.

Goppy's wife had shown up at the NYPD's 105th Precinct station Tuesday morning and told officers that her husband had choked her during an argument the night before, the New York Daily News reported.

Officers escorted her home to pack some belongings to stay elsewhere and to arrest Goppy, but he didn't appear to be home, according to the Daily News.

Then, Goppy showed up at the front door and started firing at the officers.

"After about six minutes, he comes into the residence and starts shooting." Shea said. "Almost instantly, he walks in the front door and starts shooting at our officers."

One officer was shot in the leg, and the other was shot in both hands, NYPD officials said.

Goppy, who is listed online as a crime prevention specialist at the City College of New York, was a licensed gun owner with at least three firearms — despite the fact that he had a history of domestic abuse, Shea said.

In an emailed statement to Patch, a City College spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding its protocol for backgrounding security guards and whether the school had any knowledge of the domestic assault allegations against Goppy.

"The City College of New York community learned today that Specialist Rondell Goppy, a City College Public Safety Officer, lost his life in the course of an apparent domestic violence incident at his home in Queens," City College spokesperson Dee Dee Mozeleski wrote in an email to Patch. "The City College community extends its deepest sympathies to Officer Goppy's family."

In a statement to me, City College confirmed Rondell Goppy was a public safety officer there.

On a 2016 flier I found, he is listed as a co-organizer of a self-defense workshop at City College.

He was killed today after he shot two cops responding to a domestic violence call. pic.twitter.com/OaQnbegAO8
— Maya Kaufman (@mayakauf) November 24, 2020

A senior law enforcement official told NBC4 there have been four previous calls about domestic incidents at that address, though Shea did not confirm that number.

The woman who reported the incident Tuesday was unharmed, officials said.