NEW YORK — The 26-year-old NYPD officer shot in a botched robbery in Brooklyn over the weekend has died, multiple law enforcement sources told NBC New York, a day after the shooting suspect was arrested. .
Adeed Fayaz, a father of two, died Tuesday night, hours after New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced the arrest of 38-year-old Randy Jones. Jones was handcuffed by an NYPD detective assigned to the US Marshals Regional Task Force, authorities said, and Fayaz’s own wives took him into police custody, they added.
“We wanted him to know what he did to that officer and that he had handcuffs on,” said New York Police Chief of Detectives James Essig. “I think he sends a powerful message.”
Fayaz was taken off life support earlier in the day and will be transferred to the morgue later Tuesday night.
Jones, of New York City, was arrested at a Rockland County Days Inn Monday night, police said, after fleeing there with his girlfriend and five young children following Saturday night’s shooting. Essig said Jones was extradited to Brooklyn late Monday and is expected to face charges in the Fayaz case Tuesday afternoon. He asked for a lawyer once he was taken into custody, investigators said.
According to Essig, the officer had arranged to purchase a Honda Pilot in Brooklyn for $24,000 on Facebook Marketplace. He initially planned to go to the outlet with his brother-in-law on Friday night, but it was postponed until Saturday. They rode together in the brother-in-law’s vehicle to Ruby Street for McDonald’s.
The couple were greeted by a man in a black jacket with a beard and mustache who ushered them into a driveway and jokingly asked if either of them was carrying a gun, Essig said. They both said no, at which point Essig said Jones put Fayaz in a headlock, demanded the $24,000, and pulled the gun on the brother-in-law when Fayaz said he didn’t have it.
Fayaz managed to disentangle himself from the headlock, Essig said, and the gun went off. Jones allegedly kept shooting at the brothers as he fled. The brother-in-law took Fayaz’s gun out of his holster and fired at least six times. Jones got into a pickup truck and drove off, Essig said. Fayaz had been injured in the chaos.
Video from the brother-in-law’s SUV’s dash cam helped investigators identify the getaway SUV and track down the driver. At around 8:10 p.m. Saturday, after the shooting, the black vehicle stopped at a Department of Sanitation lot on Park Avenue and the same man got out, Essig said. He was later seen getting into another vehicle with a woman and five children. That was the vehicle that investigators tracked to the Days Inn in Nanuet, where Jones was arrested.
The girlfriend was questioned but is not expected to be charged in the case. The five children in her room, ranging in age from 6 months to 11 years, were given to her. Charges are pending against Jones, who is the subject of an ongoing search warrant, Essig said.
No other details were provided.
Investigators are also looking into whether Saturday’s case may be part of a pattern.
Mayor Eric Adams said Fayaz was a five-year veteran assigned to patrol.
“Too many illegal guns are in the hands of bad people doing bad things,” the mayor said. “I spoke with the officer’s wife, I saw his beautiful children. We are all lifting up your family in prayer. We will catch the person responsible for this.”
Study update.