Friendly Fire Incident Kills NYPD Detective

An NYPD Detective was shot and killed in a friendly-fire exchange Tuesday evening as he and other officers confronted a would-be robber at a Queens cellphone store. A Sergeant was also shot but was expected to survive.

The Detective, Brian Simonsen, 42, along with his partner and supervisor, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, and six other officers were responding to 911 calls of an armed robbery in progress at a T-Mobile store on 120th St. near Atlantic Ave. shortly after 6 p.m., Force Investigation Division Chief Kevin Maloney said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Detective Simonsen and Sergeant Gorman, who were nearby doing surveillance on another case, got to the store about three minutes later, about the same time the six uniformed officers from the 102nd Precinct pulled up.