Two Are Charged With the Murder Of N.Y. Policeman
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An actor and his friend were charged with murder yesterday for the early morning shooting death Saturday of an off-duty police officer in the Bronx, authorities said.
The actor, Lillo Brancato Jr., 29, who appeared in the HBO television series “The Sopranos” and the movie “A Bronx Tale,” and his friend, Steven Armento, 48, were in the critical care unit at Jacobi Medical Center when they were arrested and charged by police yesterday morning. Mr. Brancato was charged with second-degree murder and burglary while Mr. Armento was charged with first-degree murder and burglary, criminal use of a firearm, and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
The events unfolded shortly after 5 a.m. on Saturday. After completing his late-night police shift, Police Officer Daniel Enchautegui, 28, was asleep in his Pelham home when he was awakened by the sound of breaking glass, police said. He called his landlord to inquire if he also had heard the noise before dialing 911 to report a possible burglary at the building next to his Arnow Place home, police said.
Enchautegui told police the spelling of his name, provided a clear description of his civilian attire, and informed the operator that he was carrying his gun and would meet responding police officers in front of the building.
As he ventured out to investigate, Messrs. Armento and Brancato were approaching him, police said. A neighbor reportedly heard Enchautegui identify himself as a police officer twice. There was an exchange of gunfire between Enchautegui and Mr. Armento, police said. Law enforcers believe the suspect fired first, although the sequence of the shots fired will be clarified during the course of the continuing investigation. Mr. Brancato was allegedly weaponless.
Mr. Armento fired his revolver – thought to belong to his father – two times, striking Enchautegui one time in the spleen, police said. The suspect allegedly had 13 rounds stored in a plastic bag in his pocket.
Enchautegui fired eight rounds, striking Mr. Armento three times in the right leg, and one time each in the arm, the stomach, and the groin, police said. The officer shot Mr. Brancato two times in the chest area. “To be able to find your mark eight out of eight times,” a police official said, “is pretty amazing.”
The officer, who was on the job for three years, had an unblemished record, police said, and had never shot a suspect before.
Police responding to the sound of gunfire found Enchautegui lying in the driveway with his gun beside him. His police shield was around his neck and a cellular telephone was in hand. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:09 a.m. The suspects were in critical condition as of yesterday afternoon at Jacobi, according to a hospital spokesman, Michael Heller.
The suspects spent the night drinking at a strip club when they decided they wanted to score some Valium, officials said. Having allegedly stolen some prescription medication from the Arnow Place location in the past, Mr. Armento and Mr. Brancato decided to break into the apartment. “This was kind of a return mission,” the official said.
Police believed the suspects had stolen from the basement apartment in the past because they allegedly found a prescription bottle of pills from the Arnow Place apartment in Mr. Armento’s apartment.
Mr. Brancato dropped off Mr. Armento and parked his vehicle. Mr. Armento was supposed to climb into the apartment, but he was unable to squeeze through the window, so Mr. Brancato slipped in, police said.
The suspects fled empty-handed because the tenant in the apartment had died several months earlier and the apartment was virtually empty, police officials said.
Mr. Armento has a long criminal record. He was arrested 13 times between 1976 and 2004, police said, for crimes including assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and burglary. Mr. Brancato was arrested four times this year in Yonkers, where he resides, twice for criminal possession of a controlled substance, once for disorderly conduct, and once for disorderly conduct plus harassment, police said. He was also nabbed in 2004 for criminal possession of marijuana, and in 1994 for criminal mischief.
Enchautegui is the second police officer to be shot and killed in the line of duty this year. Two weeks ago, Police Officer Dillon Stewart, 35, was shot to death on November 28 while pursuing a man who allegedly ran a red light in Brooklyn.
There have been more shooting incidents in general in the city this year than last year, Police Department data indicate. As of December 4, there were 1,428 shooting incidents compared with 1,357 at the same point last year, representing a 5.2% increase.