By Rich Bockmann
A young Middle Village man was shot and killed last week after opening fire on an off-duty NYPD officer who saw him crash a stolen vehicle into a light pole at a busy intersection, authorities said.
Police said 22-year-old Christopher Kissane, of 73-06 68th Road, began his crime spree around 2:45 a.m. last Thursday morning, when he attempted an armed robbery somewhere in Queens. Minutes later, Kissane tried to pull of what turned out to be an unsuccessful car jacking, police said, firing a shot and striking the motorist’s vehicle as she drove away.
A second attempt proved successful, according to police, when Kissane carjacked a 2001 burgundy Chrysler minivan at gunpoint about an hour later around 4 a.m. The Breaking News Network said police were searching for a male armed with a handgun in a black hooded sweatshirt who carjacked a burgundy minivan near the corner of 80th Street and 90th Road in Woodhaven.
Kissane then drove the stolen vehicle about a mile west in the direction of the Jackie Robinson Parkway, where an off-duty lieutenant driving his personal vehicle saw the minivan strike a divider and light pole at the intersection of Cypress Hills Street and Jamaica Avenue just over the Brooklyn/Queens border, police said.
Kissane got out of the crashed vehicle and traveled eastbound on Jamaica Avenue toward Hemlock Street, where he fired at the officer, who returned fire and fatally hit Kissane, according to police. Kissane was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.
Police found an unregistered, nine-shot .22-caliber revolver with four bullets in the cylinder and a plastic bag containing 15 additional rounds at the scene.
The lieutenant was treated at Jamaica Hospital for trauma and was released in good health.
Neighbors on the residential street Kissane called home said he lived there with his mother, father and possibly two siblings. The family had lived there for about two years, though they were only known in passing, neighbors said.
A Facebook page belonging to Kissane is filled with condolences from friends and said he attended Franklin K. Lane High School in Cypress Hill, just a few blocks from where he was killed.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
