Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jul 2001
Source: Staten Island Advance (NY)
Copyright: 2001 Advance Publication Inc.
Contact:  http://www.silive.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/646
Author: Ryan Lillis

'WAR ZONE' IN WEST BRIGHTON

Police Vow A Crackdown On Criminal Activity After The Shooting Of A 
Cop During A Marijuana Bust

"We are going to hit the hell out of it," a police source said. "When 
anything like that happens, you declare war on the area. And anything 
goes."

Detective Victor Villareal, a 10-year veteran of the Police 
Department, was shot in the left hand during a 5:23 p.m. struggle 
with a man police said was smoking pot inside 1077 Castleton Ave., a 
part of the housing complex one police official described as "a 
big-time drug building."

Police said the suspect may have also been shot during the fight and 
described him as a black man in his early 20s', about 6 feet tall, 
with braids in his hair and wearing a red nylon stocking cap, or "do- 
rag."

Less than 24 hours after the shooting, COP SHOT faxed information to 
the Advance stating a $10,000 cash reward had been posted for 
information leading up to the arrest and conviction of the suspect. 
Anyone with information can call 1-800 COP SHOT.

Villareal, 36, came across the man as he exited an elevator on the 
sixth floor and attempted to arrest him, police said. Villareal and 
his partner, Sgt. Michael Sullivan, had entered the building just 
after 5 p.m. with the intention of arresting a drug dealer who had 
previously sold drugs to an undercover cop.

The shooting suspect was not the same man the officers were after, police said.

Sullivan was in a fourth-floor stairwell when gunshots echoed 
throughout the building. The bullet badly damaged Villareal's index 
finger and lodged in a nearby door, police said. The injured 
detective was able to give police a vague description of the shooter 
before he lost consciousness, according to police.

The preliminary description of the suspect was given to police by 
someone who had seen a man enter 1077 Castleton Ave. minutes before 
the shooting.

Villareal spent the night heavily sedated in St. Vincent's Medical 
Center, West Brighton, and was listed in stable condition yesterday 
afternoon. Thursday night, doctors were confident that a three-hour 
operation had saved the officer's finger. However, it was unclear 
yesterday afternoon if it had indeed been saved, police said, and if 
so, how much function it will have.

Police believe that once they are able to complete an interview with 
Villareal, the wounded detective will be able to provide a complete 
description of the shooter. Undercover narcotics officers who 
regularly patrol areas like the West Brighton Houses are often able 
to recognize suspected drug users and dealers, police said.

"He probably knew the guy," a source said, "at least by face."

Investigators from the Staten Island Narcotics Unit and Warrant Squad 
will look into every open case in West Brighton, pounding on the 
front door of every person with an open arrest warrant, the source 
said. Addresses of nearby buildings will be placed in a computer 
database that locates residents with open warrants and a temporary 
headquarters may be set up on the corner of Castleton Avenue and 
Broadway.

"To show force," the source said, "to show you're not gonna shoot a 
cop. It's probably going to be the best place to live for the next 
few months if you're a decent person."

The source said an apartment on the fourth floor of 1077 Castleton 
Ave. is home to "six or seven" known drug dealers. In nearby 1075 
Castleton Ave., suspected drug dealers run into the lobby and up to 
the third floor when they see police officers approaching, the source 
said.

Police will be checking those and other buildings in the complex, 
much like they did the night Housing Unit Police Officer Gerard 
Carter was shot in the head by Shatiek Johnson, who was 17 at the 
time. Johnson lived in 1077 Castleton Ave.

Following Carter's murder, police hunted the housing complex for 
Johnson, who was found 11 hours later barricaded in a closet in a 
second-floor apartment of 820 Henderson Ave.
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