By Liz McBreen and Jerry Burke
The incident began Saturday night at around 10:30 p.m., when Nassau County police officers responded to a 911 call reporting shots being fired from a home on Doris Street in Franklin Square. The gunman, whom police identified as 61-year-old Harry Blasich, began firing shots from his second-story window in a boardinghouse occupied by eight tenants.
According to hostage negotiator Det. Lt. Kevin Smith, Blasich fired about 50 rounds from three different weapons, including two semi-automatic handguns and a sawed-off shotgun, during the course of the siege. The gunman, Smith said, was shooting randomly at first, and then seemed to target the police when they arrived on the scene.
Pinned down
The first two police to respond, Officers Frank Leckler and Angelo Palermo of the Fifth Precinct, came under fire upon their arrival. At least 13 rounds were fired toward Palermo while Leckler returned fire, shooting twice in the direction of the second floor.
Later, Leckler and another officer, Richard Frassetti, were trapped behind an adjacent shed as Blasich fired toward them. "Two officers who were among the first to arrive on the scene were pinned behind a metal shed for about a half hour," Smith said. The officers immediately called for backup, which quickly came in the form of 50 officers, including the Fifth Squad, the Bureau of Special Operations, Emergency Services, Highway Patrol and the Hostage Negotiation Team. Sharpshooters were dispatched to the roofs of nearby buildings.
The two officers were safely removed from danger by an armored police tank.
Two of the other tenants of the four-room second floor were upstairs when Blasich began firing his weapons. Smith said that it doesn't appear that the gunman made contact with the other tenants during the incident, and they were rescued from the house by police using a ladder.
Evacuation
Four other tenants, who live on the first floor, were also evacuated right after the shooting started. Taking no chances, police also evacuated most of the residents of neighboring homes.
When the shooting began, a birthday party at Cinelli's restaurant, next door to the boardinghouse, was in full swing. According to Smith, officers went into the restaurant's basement and came up with a plan to safely remove all the patrons and employees. An armored vehicle was used to move everyone from Cinelli's to Plattsdeutche Park across the street. Hempstead Turnpike was closed down in both directions for several hours.
Although Blasich fired several shots in the direction of the restaurant, Justin Tabik, a manager of Cinelli's, said there was no damage to the building. According to Tabik, there were about 25 people in the restaurant at the time, and they were all removed safely.
Police say Blasich had fired out of three different windows in three different directions -- a window in his room, one in a hallway and one in the empty room of another tenant.
Quiet End
Smith spoke to Blasich several times over the loudspeaker and telephone, ultimately convincing him to surrender. "It took repeated calls before he answered," Smith said. "I had several conversations with him. The last time I spoke to him, I instructed him on how to get out of the building." Just after 3:15 a.m., Blasich finally surrendered and was arrested at the scene.
He was charged with five counts of first-degree attempted murder (the attempted murder of police officers) and numerous weapons-possession charges. In addition to the three guns, Blasich was in possession of two silencers.
Police have not yet commented on what set Blasich off. "He was very emotionally high when we first started talking to him and it took a little while to get through," said Smith.
Little was known about Blasich as of press time. Police at a press conference Sunday said he has a criminal record dating back to 1965, including arrests on weapons charges and drug possession, forgery and robbery.
One tenant of the boardinghouse, who did not want to be identified, said that Blasich seemed "pretty on the level."
"He never bothered me," said the resident. "I'm just glad he was such a bad shot and no one got hurt."
At the press conference, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi praised the police for controlling the situation and bringing it to a non-violent conclusion. "It's really incredible that despite the seriousness of this incident, nobody was hurt," said Suozzi.
