Jagger Freeman, and Detective Brian Simonsen.
Jurors convicted Jagger Freeman, 28, of felony murder, robbery, and other charges after NYPD officers opened fire, one of them striking Detective Brian Simonsen, 42.
The defendant broke down in tears as police tried to take him out of court on Monday, according to The New York Post.
“For murder though?” Freeman said. “I didn’t do this sh–t.”
But prosecutors in Queens, New York, blamed Freeman and co-defendant Christopher Ransom, 30, for creating the situation in which Simonsen, a 19-year veteran of the force, died. They robbed a T-Mobile store in the Richmond Hill neighborhood on Feb. 8, 2019, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office. Ransom had a fake gun and ordered two employees to give up cash and merchandise from the back room, authorities said.
“Ransom was still inside the business when police officers responded to the scene,” prosecutors said. “Ransom pointed his gun – which appeared real – at the police officers, who discharged their weapons in response.”
One of the officers shot Simonsen in the torso.
“Every day I wake up and I still can’t believe it’s true,” widow Leanne Simonsen told WABC in a February 2020 report on Brian’s death.
She remembered her husband in glowing terms.
“He had a smile that lit up the room, and I tell you, people just gravitated towards him,” she said. “I just miss him. I just miss him a ton.”
Sgt. Matthew Gorman survived a wound to the left leg. Ransom, who was shot eight times by police, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to to aggravated manslaughter in the second degree and robbery in the first degree. He is serving a 33-year prison sentence, to be followed…