Current Events > Man gets 33 years in prison for police murder by friendly fire

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https://abc7ny.com/amp/christopher-ransom-brian-simonsen-jagger-freeman-t-mobile-store-robbery/11246073/

KEW GARDENS, Queens (WABC) -- A New York City man who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a friendly-fire shooting that claimed the life of an NYPD officer was sentenced Wednesday to 33 years in prison.

Christopher Ransom set in motion what prosecutors called a "terrible chain of events" during a 2019 Queens cell phone store robbery that culminated with the death of Detective Brian Simonsen.

The courtroom in Kew Gardens was packed wall to wall with officers who turned out to support the Simonsen family and his widow, who read a victim impact statement at the hearing.

"We had so many plans, so much living to do together," Leanne Simonsen said. "You robbed us of this. You took my joy. You took my life right along with his that night."

Widow of fallen NYPD Det. Brian Simonsen reflects on life one year later

Ransom, whopleaded guilty last monthto aggravated manslaughter and robbery, also spoke, acknowledging in front of dozens of police officers that he set off the entire deadly chain of events.

"I'm sorry you did not have more time with your husband because of my actions," he said. "I never met the man, but from what I heard, the city has lost a true hero."

Ransom and an accomplice, Jagger Freeman, used a fake gun to hold up the store in Richmond Hill on February 12, 2019.

When police arrived, Ransom ran towards them pointing the fake weapon.

Officers fired their own weapons, authorities said, and the 42-year-old Simonsen, a 19-year veteran of the force, was struck in the chest and killed.

Another officer, Sergeant Matthew Gorman, injured in his leg.

"My hope is that the family of Detective Brian Simonsen may finally have some closure with the sentencing of this defendant," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. "His lawless, selfish behavior set the terrible events of that day in motion. He committed one of several robberies and terrified the employees of that cell phone store before drawing the fire of police. The heartbreaking result was the loss Detective Simonsen and the injury of Sergeant Matthew Gorman."

Ransom was shot eight times but survived.

He also pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery for a separate robbery on February 8, 2019.

Ransom's sentence is to be followed by five years post release supervision.

The Legal Aid Society, which represented Ransom, released the following statement after the sentencing:

"With this plea agreement, our client, Christopher Ransom, takes full responsibility for his actions. The resolution of the case, however, should not detract from the immense physical and emotional pain that he continues to endure as a result of injuries sustained in the NYPD's friendly fire shootout. The police fired 42 shots in 11 seconds that night, shooting Mr. Ransom eight times. He will carry physical scars and emotional trauma from this event for the rest of his life. Despite this, Mr. Ransom is committed towards seeking rehabilitation and redemption. We hope that the NYPD also takes this opportunity to reexamine their own procedures and training so that a tragedy like this never happens again."

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33 years for that is honestly bullshit, especially for pleading guilty

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1NfamousACE_2 posted...

"You robbed us of this. You took my joy. You took my life right along with his that night."

She needed to direct that to his "brother" officers. They killed your husband.

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Fuck that shit. The cops did this, and they just can't blame themselves. And he has horrible lawyer.

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eston posted...

33 years for that is honestly bullshit, especially for pleading guilty

and it was a plea deal

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Wait, am I reading that right?

A guy robs a store, police come, guy has (and brandishes) a fake gun, police draw theirs and fire, hits one of their own, kills him, but the guy that DIDN'T fire gets 33 years while the officer that actually shot him gets nothing...

And everyone is blaming the robber and not the guy that fired the shot...

DevilZhouYu posted...

Wait, am I reading that right?

A guy robs a store, police come, guy has (and brandishes) a fake gun, police draw theirs and fire, hits one of their own, kills him, but the guy that DIDN'T fire gets 33 years while the officer that actually shot him gets nothing...

And everyone is blaming the robber and not the guy that fired the shot...

Dumbass fucking felony murder laws.

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EmbraceOfDeath posted...

Dumbass fucking felony murder laws.

Sometimes it makes sense but this time it really looks like the police were negligent

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Dudes wife should be more pissed at the shitty training cops have if they managed to murk one of their own while the guy they were shooting at is A-ok. But indoctrination and all that.

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I was fine with this up until

Another officer, Sergeant Matthew Gorman, injured in his leg.

Do these people not know how to aim?
Shooting one of your own is a tragedy, but two is just incompetent.

Also, the guy who robbed was shot 8 times and wasn't killed.
Yeah, they have awful aim.

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I read "friendly fire" and thought they actually charged an officer... What the fuck is this though? The robber holding a fake gun, gets shot 8 times, then gets thrown in jail for 33 years, because the officers accidently hit one of their own while spraying the robber with bullets.

Yes, the officers would have never fired any shots if he didn't try to rob a store, but that's an excessive amount of jail time when he wasn't even the one shooting.

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HylianFox posted...

Also, the guy who robbed was shot 8 times and wasn't killed.
Yeah, they have awful aim.

That's crazy. I wonder if he was taking cover and most of those shots were to his limbs, or what.

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Pepys Monster posted...

That's crazy. I wonder if he was taking cover and most of those shots were to his limbs, or what.

probably shot him self

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Bump for lack of responsibility

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If he hadn't pled guilty and I was on the jury, I would have done jury nullification if I had to be on the jury for years and if I was the only one who would find him not guilty. No fucks given. This kind of felony murder is 100% bullshit.
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https://youtu.be/IHbZXtX4P8g

Here's the video of the testimony where the transcript is read where Greg McMichael says "Stop, you know, I'll blow your head off" while they were chasing him.

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These cops did firearm training on the PS2 playing Star Wars Battlefront with the RE4 Chainsaw controller.

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DevilZhouYu posted...

Wait, am I reading that right?

A guy robs a store, police come, guy has (and brandishes) a fake gun, police draw theirs and fire, hits one of their own, kills him, but the guy that DIDN'T fire gets 33 years while the officer that actually shot him gets nothing...

And everyone is blaming the robber and not the guy that fired the shot...

Yep, our legal system is fucked

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Seems longer than I would guessed, maybe theyll get parole

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Imagine blaming the police because of an accident that was explicitly caused by the actions of a criminal.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

Imagine blaming the police because of an accident that was explicitly caused by the actions of a criminal.

The accident was explicitly caused by the officer who fired their weapon without ensuring their target.

iirc, it's usually the policy of the police to charge people for any injuries and/or deaths they might cause if another party is responsible for the series of events that led to those things.

like, if a cop saw a group of people trying to kidnap a kid, and they started shooting since the kidnappers weren't complying, and the cop accidentally killed the kid, then the kidnappers would also be charged for the killing.

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TheOtherMike posted...

The accident was explicitly caused by the officer who fired their weapon without ensuring their target.

What was he firing at? What was the reason for the weapon being fired at all? That's the point of the law. It would just be an accidental death if not for the fact that somebody else's criminal actions created the dangerous situation to begin with.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

What was he firing at?

Exactly.

How is that even murder? Its manslaughter at worst and its not even that.

Wasn't there another case that was posted on here that the cops shot into a moving car killing the passenger and who ever the cops were originally shooting at got done for the killing too?

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TheOtherMike posted...

Exactly.

Exactly. He was firing at a criminal who committed a robbery with a visually convincing fake weapon. Glad we agree.

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Cobra1010 posted...

How is that even murder? Its manslaughter at worst and its not even that.

1NfamousACE_2 posted...

Ransom, whopleaded guilty last monthto aggravated manslaughter and robbery

It was manslaughter. The TC sensationalized the topic title, that's all.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

Exactly. He was firing at a criminal who committed a robbery with a visually convincing fake weapon. Glad we agree.

i need to see a reenactment of the event because Im not understanding the friendly fire

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HylianFox posted...

Do these people not know how to aim?
Shooting one of your own is a tragedy, but two is just incompetent.

Not only that but the officer that was killed got shot in the chest, which suggests they were engaged in a pincer movement, whichif your team is in front of you, you should know not to shoot that way ahead of time obviously, like thats incredibly poor coordination.

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1NfamousACE_2 posted...

i need to see a reenactment of the event because Im not understanding the friendly fire

I didn't see it either, but my guess would be that there was either a crossfire situation where they were shooting from opposite sides without realizing it, or maybe there was a ricochet situation.

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

Exactly. He was firing at a criminal who committed a robbery with a visually convincing fake weapon. Glad we agree.

And he hit another officer instead. Therefore the death was explicitly caused by the officer's negligence.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

It was manslaughter. The TC sensationalized the topic title, that's all.

33 years for pleading guilty to manslaughter is still kind of insane though

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eston posted...

33 years for that is honestly bullshit, especially for pleading guilty

he should have got more imo

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Fair, next

Them psychos shot the poor robber 8 times and by some miracle he lived.

But because of their kill joy excitement of gunning him down they shot their own. Yet he has to go to prison 33 years for it?

I hope everyone in this topic realizes, not a single shot was returned because he had a fake gun.

This means the idiots went on a gun happy frenzy over nothing.

In the military we can't shoot until the enemy actively starts shooting first.

So a bunch of foreign middle eastern enemys have more legal protection from being murdered by Military, than US Citizens have against cops murdering them.

To add insult to injury who ever the cops murder, while murdering you, gets blamed on you... just wow...

Gobstoppers12 posted...

Imagine blaming the police because of an accident that was explicitly caused by the actions of a criminal.

I can since the police is the culprit that explicitly shot the cop.

A criminal being a criminal doesn't excuse a cop for firing his/her weapon with total no regard for innocent life in the room.

The cop is accountable for his/her own incompetent actions with a gun.

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It doesnt really matter at all that its a fake gun when you're literally telling people it is and that they will be killed by it if they dont do what you say. Even the part about how he didnt shoot is absurd, as if you need to wait til someone is already dead to handle an armed assailant. You don't wait for a dangerous event like that.

Not to say there shouldnt be some accountability on the officers part, as in immediate job loss, but any criminal charges should fall squarely on the guy telling people hes going to kill them.

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Man fuck cops. This type of shit should not be allowed.

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42 shots in 11 seconds

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I completely get charging him with something, but giving him 33 years and essentially charging him for the death when it was negligence that killed him is wrong. We as a country shouldnt allow that. Its just like those teens who are being charged because a cop shit at a car and killed an 8 year old girl. Charge them, but not with that little girls murder.

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I understand felony murder, but 33 years and he didnt even have a real gun?!

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You should only be charged for your own actions. This person was committing armed robbery and should definitely be punished for that, but the cops were shooting other cops and the result of that should solely be on the cops.

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Jerry_Hellyeah posted...

Not to say there shouldnt be some accountability on the officers part, as in immediate job loss, but any criminal charges should fall squarely on the guy telling people hes going to kill them.

Who is defending the criminal as if he shouldn't catch any charges for bringing a fake gun? Charge the criminal for his actual actions.

People are attacking cops yet again getting no accountability for their actions. It should not be legal for a cop to go shoot innocent bystanders without a care in the world for their own actions, and go " \_()_/ look what you made me do"

Think before spraying a room. Think before shooting first, ask questions never. Know how to aim. Suffer the consequences if you fuck up that aim and kill an innocent bystanders.

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The cops are responsible for the death not the robber

Lots of extremely bad takes in this topic. I was going to argue about this, but there are literally too many hot takes to keep up with.

I'll just make the blanket statement: the criminal with the fake gun is at fault for creating a deadly situation and necessitating the use of force.

33 years is a fairly light sentence for directly causing the death of an officer and the injury of another.

Read the law and at least attempt half of an understanding of the situation before you come in with hot takes next time.

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Discussions posted...

I hope everyone in this topic realizes, not a single shot was returned because he had a fake gun.

This means the idiots went on a gun happy frenzy over nothing.

I hope you realize that everyone already knows that. I hope you realize that you shouldnt wait until someone gets their head blown off by someone who has already said they were going to do just that.

It is telling that you consider the lives of everyone besides the shooter to be a bunch of "nothing".

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Gobstoppers12 posted...

Lots of extremely bad takes in this topic. I was going to argue about this, but there are literally too many hot takes to keep up with.

I'll just make the blanket statement: the criminal with the fake gun is at fault for creating a deadly situation and necessitating the use of force.

33 years is a fairly light sentence for directly causing the death of an officer and the injury of another.

Read the law and at least attempt half of an understanding of the situation before you come in with hot takes next time.

It's not that we don't understand the law, it's that we disagree with how it is being applied here. Feel free to go back to sniffing your own farts now

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He pointed it at them, brandished it like a real firearm, ran towards them and moved in a confusing way.

Before I read that part, it sounded like a trigger happy cop. After reading that, I can see how he literally did cause them to accidentally shoot someone else. Fair.

This is BS. Cops killed one of their own and are blaming the robber for it.

I do think the would be robbers should be penalized in some fashion, but 33 years as if they actually killed the cop is harsh.

This is some dumb law of causation shit they made up on King of Queens

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