The sniper accused in the shooting on Christmas Eve of a New York Police officer was detained without bail for his attempted murder charge Friday night – while prosecutors described his incriminating excuse that he was targeting his girlfriend, not at the cop.
Defendant William Moss made at least a partial confession – claiming he believed only his girlfriend was there when he allegedly fired two shots into a crowded courtyard in Crown Heights.
Shot twice in the back but saved by his bulletproof vest, Officer Connor Boalick, 27, spent part of the night at Kings County Hospital, but was discharged in time for Christmas.
“In short, the words were that he heard his girlfriend’s voice, but he didn’t see the police,” prosecutor Jordan Rossman told the prosecuting judge.
Rossman also told the judge that the charge – attempted murder of a police officer – is as serious as it appears in the state penal code.
“This defendant is accused of shooting a NYPD officer in the back when that officer was called in to investigate a domestic dispute … between the defendant and his girlfriend,” Rossman told Brooklyn Criminal Court judge Jean T. Walsh.
When the police arrived, Moss “shot the police twice,” with his girlfriend and mother, the prosecutor told the judge.
“The policeman was wearing a bulletproof vest, thankfully, and was able to escort the two claimants to safety.”
The firearm has been recovered, the prosecutor added.
“I wish it never happened,” Moss told reporters as he was taken to court.
In the Friday night indictment, defense attorney Robin Gordon Leavitt of the Legal Aid Society asked for a bail bond to be set.
“This is a young man who will return to court,” argued Leavitt – despite his client’s open warrant on a previous marijuana charge. Moss nodded emphatically in agreement.
“This marijuana warrant was the only police contact before that,” argued Leavitt.
“He has never been arrested before … he has lived his entire life in Brooklyn with his grandmother,” he added, while Moss continued to nod his head up and down.
“She is beyond herself. She is scared, she is upset and with good reason – this is a very serious accusation … I am asking your honor not to arrest you. “
The judge agreed that the charge is serious.
In fact, “it is the most serious type and level of crime in the penal code,” she said.
Still, the court is “concerned that there are not just policemen, but two people, two plaintiff witnesses that the defendant shot,” she said.
“There were at least four, possibly six people who were at the defendant’s shooting range. I’m going to go into preventive detention, ”she said, citing the seriousness of the charges and the strength of the case.
Moss could be seen in the video procedure ducking his head in apparent disappointment before the process was over.