Policeman kills Times Square peddler

A plainclothes policeman chased a conman through pavements crowded with Christmas shoppers and tourists in the heart of New York’s Times Square, killing the man after a gun battle.

No-one else was injured in yesterday’s shootout near a landmark Broadway hotel that shattered a box office and gift shop windows, police said.

The 25-year-old suspect, Raymond Martinez, and his brother were trying to dupe tourists into buying CDs along Broadway and 46th Street just before noon when he was recognised by a sergeant who runs a task force that monitors aggressive begging, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Sgt Christopher Newsom asked them for their tax identification, which allows peddlers to sell on the streets. But Martinez fled, running through the Marriott Marquis hotel’s passenger drop-off area.

The officer chased him and Martinez turned and fired a Mac-10 9mm machine pistol that held 30 rounds, firing two shots before it jammed, police said.

Sgt Newsom fired four times, striking Martinez in the chest and arms and killing him, Mr Kelly said.

“We’re lucky the weapon jammed,” he added.

The commissioner said the shooting appeared to be within police guidelines which allow for deadly force when an officer’s life is threatened.

Dave Kinahan, a tourist from Boston, was parking his car at the hotel when he saw the shooting.

“I was 20 yards away,” he said. He said he thought, “Is this real or this a movie?”

The hotel is in the Broadway theatre district in the heart of Times Square. The Marquis Theatre, where White Christmas is now playing, is in the hotel.

Bullets from the gunfight shattered the window of the Broadway Baby gift shop and a side window of the box office on the street, police said.

Duncan Stewart, a Broadway casting director for National Artists Management, who has a 12th-floor office that overlooks Times Square, said he was on the phone when he heard three loud pops.

“It’s bizarre. It’s one thing to see the Naked Cowboy day after day in Times Square, but a shooting is something different altogether,” he said.

Police said Martinez and his brother, who is in custody, were working a scam in which they would approach tourists, ask them their names, then write the names on the CDs and demand payment of €10 (€6.79).

They claim the CDs are original work they have created, but it was unclear if that was true.

They had already been given a summons by officers this year for not having identification.

Martinez had been wanted for assault in the Bronx . The gun he used in the shooting was reported stolen in Virginia on October 28, police said.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said officers paid special attention to scams and begging during the festive season.

Special units are set up in areas including Times Square and Canal Street, where stolen goods, fakes and scams are prevalent.

But one man expressed anger at the way street peddlers were treated.

“I think they get treated tougher than they actually are,” said Zach McCabe, a comedian who has been passing out flyers for his shows for nearly a year on the strip of Broadway where the CD sellers often stop tourists.

He said he did not think the vendors harassed people. “I don’t see it. I see them talking to people,” he said.