A retired correction officer fatally shot a man in a crowded downtown Brooklyn subway station Tuesday evening, law enforcement sources said.
Gilbert Drogheo, 32, was shot once in the torso after he got into an argument with the former officer on the Borough Hall 4- and 5-train platform just after 6:30 p.m.
The confrontation started on a downtown 4 train, when 69-year-old retired correction officer Will Groomes, 68, got on the train at the Bowling Green station and walked past Drogheo, who was with a 29-year-old male. Both had been acting belligerently on the subway car.
“They were acting drunk, very loud and obnoxious,” an unidentified eyewitness said. “They started picking on [the officer].”
The confrontation became physical, and the shooting victim punched and spat at the retired officer, police sources said.
“Once the older guy got punched, he pulled his gun out and all hell broke loose,” the witness said.
When the train reached the Borough Hall station, the altercation spilled onto the platform, where Groomes wrestled with Drogheo while trying to detain him.
During the struggle, Groomes told cops that Drogheo and the other man tried to reach for his pistol, police sources said.
The retired officer then loaded his gun as they reached the mezzanine.
A video released by CBS2 shows the officer pushing the man near a set of turnstiles, and Drogheo shoving him back, thrusting him against emergency doors just before being shot.
EMS workers rushed Drogheo to Brooklyn Hospital Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Groomes went to Brooklyn Hospital and was treated for tinnitus, and was then taken to the 84th Precinct station house. The 29-year-old man was taken into custody for questioning, sources said.
Groomes told police the pair was trying to rob him, according to sources.
He questioned by police Tuesday night and then released sometime early Wednesday morning, but was ordered to return to the stationhouse hours later for additional questioning, police sources said.
Groomes had not been charged with a crime as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said.
Norman Seabrook, president of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, said Groomes — who retired 20 years ago — did not have any blemishes on his record and was allowed to carry a weapon.
“I believe the correction officer defended himself,” Seabrook said, adding he hoped the public wouldn’t “rush to judgment.”