A crazed Long Island man stabbed a co-worker to death and shot a Suffolk County cop in the face before barricading himself inside his home and holding police at bay Thursday, authorities and sources said.
Nieves Reyes, 48, surrendered to police outside his North Bay Shore home early Thursday, and now faces murder charges in the death of 66-year-old Eugene Allen and attempted murder for shooting and wounding the 33-year-old cop, officials said.
“I spoke to him a little while ago,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told reporters about the injured officer outside Stony Brook University Hospital Thursday afternoon.
The North Bay Shore house where a police officer was shot in the face while serving a warrant. WABC7“He’s got a smile on his face — I think he’s in a lot of pain — but I think he understands that this could have gone a lot worse, so I think he’s happy to be alive and we’re happy that he’s alive.”
The officer, who was not identified, is a US Navy veteran and a married father of two who has two years on the force, police said.
The wild scene began to unfold after police responded to reports of a bloodied body dumped in bushes just blocks from Reyes’ home on Wednesday.
Reyes was allegedly linked to the crime through Ring camera footage.
A dead body was found in the bushes near the home the day before the shooting. Paul MazzaWhen police knocked on the accused killer’s door with a warrant on Thursday, he allegedly fired a flurry of shots and struck the wounded cop in the face, then briefly barricaded himself inside.
Police did not say how long the standoff lasted, but by Thursday afternoon, Reyes had been charged in both crimes, police said.
Reyes and Allen worked together as mechanics, cops said.
The dead man’s body was covered in a “significant amount” of blood in bushes in a nearby wooded area.
The officer is expected to make a recovery after getting hit just half an inch from his eye. WABC7It was not immediately known what sparked the fatal attack.
Doctors at the hospital said the wounded officer was struck about a half-inch from his eye but is expected to survive.
“It was up on his cheek, it fractured his cheekbone and was lodged in his ear,” doctors told News 12 Long Island. “If that was over half an inch, unfortunately, he’s blind or not with us anymore.”
It’s unclear if the officer was hit by a direct shot or a ricochet.
Bay Shore residents told The Post they came home Wednesday night to blood on the street and police activity — with some even claiming to see part of the body tucked in nearby brush.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona
