By Betsy Scheinbart
An off-duty Department of Corrections captain intervened in a robbery at his neighborhood take-out Chinese food restaurant in South Jamaica Friday night, shooting and killing a gunmen who terrorized the restaurant, said Sgt. Brian Burke, a police spokesman.
At 11:33 p.m. Capt. Dana Shehee had already ordered food for himself and his family and was waiting for his order at the Hong Kong Kitchen, at 109-16 Merrick Blvd., when two gunmen walked into the restaurant and demanded property, said Sandra Lewis Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.
“They were menacing and had a gun to someone’s head,” Smith said.
The perpetrators robbed two customers in the restaurant and were moving toward Shehee when one of them noticed he had handcuffs hanging from his belt, Burke said.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who later awarded the 16-year veteran and father of five for his bravery, recounted a chilling comment from one of the robbers.
“He said, ‘you know what we gotta do,’ suggesting that they were going to have to kill him because they apparently thought he was a policeman,” Giuliani told a news conference Saturday.
One of the robbers then turned his gun on Shehee, who yelled: “Police! Drop your gun!” The robber refused and Shehee fired three shots, hitting him twice in the torso and once in the leg, police said.
Both of the gunmen fled the restaurant, but Steven Longuefosse, 23, of 706 E. 47th St. in Brooklyn only made it about one block from the store before he collapsed and died, said Police Officer George Jensen, a spokesman for the NYPD.
Officers recovered a .38 caliber semi-automatic handgun and the weapon was being analyzed, but as of press time police were still searching for the second suspect, who was believed to be armed.
None of the customers or employees of the Chinese kitchen were injured, police said.
Shehee was taken to Jamaica Hospital and treated for trauma, but released a few hours later. Shehee’s fiancée’s brother had died just a few days earlier and Shehee was making funeral arrangements with his fiancée before he left to get Chinese food, Smith said.
Smith described Shehee as a “superb human being” and “mild- mannered.” He works in the Equal Employment Opportunity Department at the Department of Corrections headquarters in Manhattan, but lives near the restaurant in Queens.
“We are very proud of him. He is the second hero we have had in a week,” Smith said, speaking for the Department of Corrections. “Capt. Shehee and our people are superbly trained.”
Earlier last week, Corrections Officer Jeffrey Wright chased and subdued a man suspected of raping and beating a woman in a Canal Street subway station, Smith said. He was also honored by Giuliani.
Corrections officers do not carry guns while they work in the city’s jails, but they carry weapons when they are off-duty and are trained to hold “peace officer” status, Smith said.
The take-out kitchen, which does not have tables or chairs but only a large, open space for customers to wait and place their orders, is separated from the front room by a thick plexi-glass divider.
Hong Kong Kitchen employees declined to comment on the incident.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
