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Cops leave hospital
Dozens of police officers clapped and cheered for Police Officer Joseph Murphy and Police Officer Christopher Wells as they were wheeled out of Jamaica Hospital on Thanksgiving Day.
NEW YORK - Two NYPD officers who were wounded in a fatal shootout in Queens earlier this week were able to go home to their families just in time for Thanksgiving.
Dozens of police officers and the department's top brass clapped and cheered for Police Officer Joseph Murphy and Police Officer Christopher Wells as they were wheeled out of Jamaica Medical Center on Thursday morning. The department's Pipes and Drums band played for them, too.
Wells's wife held their bundled up 2-week-old baby in her arms as she walked by his side to a waiting van.
Murphy's wife was there, too. Earlier this week, they learned that she is expecting, the New York Post reported.
"I'm looking forward to going home and spending time with my family, sit down with the people I love and enjoy a meal," Murphy said, according to the Post. "I'm extra thankful."
After a woman reported a domestic violence incident to the police at the 105th Precinct house on Tuesday, Wells and Murphy escorted her home, in Springfield Gardens, so she could gather her belongings and leave. But within minutes of their arrival, Rondell Goppy, her husband, ambushed them, shooting both officers, police said. They fired back, killing Goppy.
Wells, 36, was hit in the thigh. He underwent surgery for a broken femur. Murphy, 33, was wounded in his hands. He also had to have surgery.
"We're just so grateful that these officers are going to be able to get home today, sit on the couch hopefully watching football with their beautiful families," Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said outside the hospital on Thursday. "And it's not lost on us really how lucky we are."
Well joined the NYPD in 2007 and Murphy joined in 2015, the department said. They're assigned to the 105th Precinct, which covers several neighborhoods in eastern Queens along the border with Nassau County.
Goppy worked as a peace officer at CUNY City College and had a license to carry a firearm, Shea said at a press conference on Tuesday. He had two handguns on him when he ambushed Wells and Murphy.
(NYPD photo)
(NYPD photo)