Subway vigilante yelled, ‘Get away from her!’ just before he opened fire: sources
The vigilante arrested for opening fire during a robbery attempt in a Manhattan subway station yelled “Get away from her!” at the would-be mugger — just before he pulled a pistol from his backpack and sent a couple rounds flying down the platform, sources said Thursday.
Cops found John Rote, 43, of Astoria, Queens, sitting at his work desk at about 2 p.m. Wednesday at Panavision, a company on Varick Street that rents camera and filmmaking equipment, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Officers collared him without a struggle and brought him back to the precinct, where Rote allegedly admitted that he pulled the trigger, then tossed the gun in the East River, the sources said.
Witnesses and police said the alleged mugger — Matthew Roesch, a homeless 49-year-old — held the emergency gate open for his 40-year-old victim at the 49th Street station near Times Square at about 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, then demanded money from her.
When she tried to walk through, he blocked her way and demanded money, according to court documents.
“If you don’t give me a dollar, I’m going to take your purse,” Roesch said, according to police.
She refused, and Roesch began screaming at her, the complaint said.
Cops said Rote warned the panhandler to leave the woman alone — and witnesses told officers that he then whipped out a gun and yelled “Get away from her!,” sources said.
Rote – who has no criminal history and has never been described as in need of mental help – was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment and menacing for the caught-on-camera shooting, the NYPD said.
He faces three and a half years in prison, if convicted, prosecutors said, while the third-degree attempted robbery charge against Roesch carries a sentence of up to seven years.
Rote’s defense attorney, Marie Calvert-Kilbane, said Rote had legally bought the gun about 13 years ago — and argued that he was just a “concerned” citizen looking out for the safety of a fellow straphanger.
“This is not someone who was buying [guns] on the street,” Calvert-Kilbane, of New York County Defender Services, said at Rote’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday evening, adding that her client was “concerned for his safety and someone else’s safety and reacted … [Rote] was really concerned for someone else.”
She argued Rote should be cut loose because he has no criminal record and has worked at the same company for 17 years. He could not afford any bail higher than $2,000, and his West Virginia roots mean he could not enlist anyone else to help him pay – he has no family in the Big Apple, she said.
“I’m asking that my client be released today so that he can come back and continue fighting this case from outside rather than inside Rikers Island,” the public defender said.
Judge Jay Weiner set bail at $10,000 cash, bond or credit card at the request of prosecutors, noting the seriousness of the charges and the potential flight risk Rote posed due to his out-of-state connections.
A grand jury will review the case on Nov. 14, when Rote is due back in court, Weiner added.
Panavision employees steadfastly refused to comment or react to their colleague’s arrest, and referred a reporter from The Post to the company’s media relations department.
The company’s PR team said they wouldn’t comment on “any pending law enforcement investigations.”
Rote worked as a lead inventory and logistics technician at the film equipment company, where he’d been for 17 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He graduated from Fairmont State University in West Virginia in 2005 with a degree in applied science, the website said.
A woman who answered the phone at Rote’s family’s address in West Virginia tearfully said she was not ready to make a comment.
In footage obtained by The Post, Rote allegedly walks down the platform when he seems to see something in the distance.
He immediately stops right in front of the turnstiles, puts his olive-green backpack down and starts fumbling through it.
Seconds later, he emerges with what looks like a snub-nose revolver, points it and casually squeezes off a round, the video showed.
He then starts yelling at Roesch, and inches closer before letting another round fly, the video showed.
No one was hit by the errant bullets.
Law enforcement sources said they don’t think Rote was aiming at the vagrant.
But even if he had been, he probably wouldn’t have hit him, according to Brian Higgins, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the former chief of the Bergen County Police Department.
Higgins pointed to Rote’s habit of carrying a loose pistol in his backpack, his non-existent shooting stance and his awkward one-handed firing pose as examples of the man’s near total lack of skill with firearms.
“The reason we teach a certain stance and how to handle a firearm is so the bullet comes out and hits where you want it to,” Higgins told The Post. “This was just bizarre … Just watch the video, and you’ll see why civilians shouldn’t be carrying guns in the subway system.”
Higgins also questioned why Rote was so quick to intervene – most people who buy guns are concerned about their own safety, not looking to play Batman.
“This guy almost seemed like he was out there to be a vigilante – it’s like he was waiting for the moment.”
Still, he said he understood the fear New Yorkers still feel, and blamed the city for not making the subways safer, faster.
“They’ve got to fix this,” Higgins said. “This guy is the result of the failure of the MTA and the city. They’ve dropped the ball, they’ve got to fix it.”
Police searched for Rote for about a day and a half before an anonymous tipster recognized him from the stills of surveillance footage released by the NYPD and called the cops, sources said.
Transit officials slammed the vigilante justice in a statement announcing Rote’s arrest.
“I want to be clear: We don’t tolerate this kind of conduct in NYC Transit, period,” city Transit President Richard Davey said.
Roesch — who was arrested within minutes of the shooting — had been collared before for selling MetroCard swipes, according to NYPD Inspector Steven Hill, the commanding officer of the Transit Borough Manhattan.
“This gentleman has some history of swiping in the system, he’s known to us, he’s been arrested before,” Hill said, adding that Roesch’s prior busts were for “hand-collecting and selling … MetroCards.”
“He was arrested for selling swipes, that’s a felony, when you bend the cards,” Hill said. “That’s like criminal possession of burglar tools, you bend the MetroCards to get a free swipe. Or you’re holding the gate open, [that’s also] theft of service, misdemeanor charges.”
Roesch has been charged with attempted robbery for trying to forcibly snatch the woman’s belongings at the 49th Street N, R and W station in Midtown.
He was freed on supervised release following his Thursday arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, where he also claimed that he was hit by one of Rote’s shots.
“The bullet ricocheted off of me!” he said as he left the courthouse, pending his next court date on Dec. 20.
Higgins, the professor, echoed Davey’s sentiments on Thursday.
“We want New Yorkers to help each other out, but at the same time, they’re not the police,” the professor said. “To fire a shot at somebody who’s committing a robbery … no one’s life is in danger with that.
“If you want to help your fellow New Yorkers, call 911 and try to get a cop,” he continued. “New Yorkers are known for coming to each other’s aid, but they’re not the police and they’re not there to enforce laws. That’s for the City of New York and the MTA.”
Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer, Amanda Woods and Reuven Fenton
