An off-duty narcotics officer has been charged with attempted murder after shooting his gun inside of the Williamsburg bar Horses and Divorces (285 Bedford Ave.) early Friday morning after harassing a woman and fighting with a security guard, according to multiple news outlets.
An employee of the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, 31-year-old Stephen Abreu allegedly became angry when a woman at the bar rebuffed his aggressive advances, according to Gothamist:
The off-duty officer allegedly stumbled into the Bedford Avenue bar at 3:00 a.m. on Friday morning and began knocking glasses over. After punching the bartender in the side of the head during a “verbal dispute,” police said, he was tackled to the ground by a nearby security guard.
He wrestled with the security guard down to the ground and pulled out a gun,” said owner Sal Fristensky, who viewed surveillance footage of the altercation. “The security guard grabbed his hand and pinned him, so he fired two shots at the wall that didn’t hit anyone.”
The security guard, Austin Barber, managed to restrain the gunman until police arrived. Abreu was charged with reckless endangerment. His occupation was listed in arrest documents as “other police,” according to an NYPD spokesperson.
The security guard suffered only a “minor cut” to his hand. Abreu was charged with “attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, menacing, criminal mischief and harassment,” but the judge let him out on supervised release according to the NY Daily News.