Chaptzem Blog!      

A screwdriver-wielding panhandler stabbed a cop and tried to take another's gun in a Brooklyn subway station Thursday, prompting both officers to shoot, officials said.

The suspect was wounded three times and a 16-year-old bystander was grazed in the leg by an errant bullet as mayhem erupted on a Crown Heights platform crowded with rush-hour commuters.

"Kids were screaming, 'He's got a gun!' Everyone was running and hysterical," said witness Lee Beckford, 40, of Brooklyn.

The violence erupted at 3:40 p.m. when suspect Stephen McKenzie, 32, tried to bum a cigarette off plainclothes cop Tyrone Barrionuevo, part of a team dispatched to the Utica Ave. station to watch for pickpockets.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said McKenzie has a long history of psychiatric problems and lives in a shelter near the station.

After aggressively demanding a cigarette, McKenzie started cursing at the 26-year-old Barrionuevo, who has been on the force for 15 months.

"Are you a cop?" McKenzie reportedly asked.

"Yes, I am," Barrionuevo responded, pulling out his badge, a police source said.

Without warning, McKenzie drew a sharpened screwdriver and plunged it into the cop's left shoulder and leg, the source said.

McKenzie allegedly attempted to stab Barrionuevo in the chest, but the thrust was blocked by the cop's bulletproof vest, Kelly said.

The officer's 27-year-old partner, Alfonso Villacres, raced to help, whacking the 6-foot, 240-pound McKenzie with a baton, Kelly said.

McKenzie then turned on Villacres, wrestling him to the platform and trying to grab his gun, sources said. During the tussle, two shots went off before Villacres could break free.

"Both officers fired their weapons," Kelly said. A total of five shots were fired in the chaos.

McKenzie was hit twice in the chest and once in the hip. He was in serious condition at Kings County Hospital.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/01/2009-05-01_cops_shoot_panhandler_after_he_stabs_officer_with_screwdriver_in_subway_teen_bys.html