My Fox New YorkPolice shot and killed an armed man suspected of robbing a drugstore on the Upper East Side Friday afternoon, the NYPD confirmed.
Scott Kato, 45, robbed the HealthSource Pharmacy on Second Avenue and 68th Street Friday afternoon, demanding cash and OxyContin, police said. He fled in an SUV and made almost 30 blocks when cops tracked him down, police said. How? One of the pill bottles he took from the drugstore was actually a decoy containing a GPS device, police said.
Officers confronted him in his car, which was stopped in traffic at East 96th Street right under the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive overpass, the NYPD said. He pulled a gun on them, so they opened fire, killing him, police said.
Scores of cops were deployed to the area. The shooting investigation caused a massive traffic backup. Officials advised motorists to avoid the southbound FDR Drive.
Kato is suspected of at least six armed robberies since December 2011, including a prior robbery at the same pharmacy back in December 2013, Fox 5’s Stacey Delikat reported.
The NYPD has been using the GPS-enabled bait bottles for more than a year. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, also makes the bait bottles. The company told Fox 5 that the traceable bottles have helped nab more than 100 robbery suspects around the country.
The four police officers involved in the shooting were taken to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell as a precaution, the NYPD said. The AP reported that they were treated for ringing in their ears.
Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/25538225/shooting-near-fdr-drive#ixzz329qrttGj
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“The four police officers involved in the shooting were taken to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell as a precaution, the NYPD said. The AP reported that they were treated with OxyContin for ringing in their ears.” lol 🙂
And were given a lifetime prescription.
Merely as a precaution, of course.