NEW YORK — A reputed gang member who allegedly shot a firefighter in Staten Island posted to Facebook during an ensuing standoff predicting his death.
"Today I die," Garland Tyree, posting as Garland Tyree, wrote.
The message garnered several comments from concerned friends asking what was going on and urging him to be safe, according to WPIX.
"They kicked in my door and it popped off," Tyree wrote.
Investigators said Tyree is a reputed member of the Bloods gang who has 18 prior arrests. He died midday Friday after gunshots erupted near the home where he barricaded himself, ending a six-hour standoff, police said.
It began when U.S. Marshals arrived early Friday to a home on Destiny Court to serve Tyree a federal probation warrant but he allegedly refused to open the door, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. That’s when authorities went to an upstairs neighbor to get a key into the apartment.
When they opened the door, they saw smoke inside and called firefighters to the scene, Boyce said.
A lieutenant responding to the call ordered the man to leave the home but he refused and a fight ensued, two fire department sources told PIX11 News. He was shot twice allegedly by the suspect — once in the calf and once in the buttocks, officials said.
After the lieutenant was hurt, the suspected shooter barricaded himself in the home. Armed SWAT teams spent hours trying to coax him out of a basement apartment, aerial footage shows.
The firefighter was identified as Lt. James Hayes, a 31-year veteran of the department and father of two who responded to Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001. He was taken to a hospital and listed in stable condition, police said.
