An inside police source in New York has given SOFREP the detail-to-detail events during the Herkimer murders, and subsequent HRT raid, that led to the death of the suspect two weeks ago. SOFREP Exclusive: FBIs HRT Kill New York Shooter

On March 13th, police officers from the Mohawk Village Police, along with members of the local fire department, were called to an apartment building for a suspected structure fire. On the way to the location, officers were advised that a shooting had occurred at a barbershop only a few buildings away from the apartment fire. On scene in the barbershop, officers came upon two critically injured individuals and two deceased individuals who appeared to have been shot with a shotgun.

While on scene at the barbershop, officers were dispatched to a car maintenance shop in the village of Herkimer, where another shooting had been reported. Once the police arrived they found two men who had died from what appeared to be wounds from a shotgun.

The local Chief of Police, who was responsible for both Herkimer and Mohawk, began to coordinate with State Police personnel to locate the shooter. As a command post was put in place by State Police with the local police department, a call came in through 911 reporting that a Jeep was traveling the wrong way on a one-street in Herkimer.

Local police responded to the call immediately and came across the empty Jeep parked near an abandoned building, just one block from the police station. The police immediately discovered that the owner of the vehicle was also the owner of the burning apartment building. A local police officer with a tracking K-9 unit was led to the abandoned building, which was subsequently surrounded by Herkimer Police SWAT. A secure perimeter was established and at this point no one knew if the perpetrator was inside the abandoned building.

Shortly after the perimeter was established, the regional Troop from the New York State Police Special Operations Response Team (SORT) was deployed to the scene to stand-by for a possible raid against the perpetrator. Throughout the rest of the day, the other four SORT teams from around the State were brought to the scene.

SORT
Members of New York’s SORT unit.

Almost exactly four hours after the apartment was set on fire, and while police were discussing how to determine whether someone had entered the abandoned facility, several shots were fired from inside the facility towards officers on the perimeter. Shotgun rounds made contact with nearby buildings and police vehicles, but no personnel were injured. A single U.S. Deputy Marshal returned fire from his M4 carbine.

The SORT teams are a full-time tactical response team for the state of New York, are well-funded and have advanced resources in their arsenal. They began to deploy robots in the building to locate the suspect. CS gas, flash bangs, and other noise-generating devices were utilized for almost 9 hours after the suspect fired his first shots from inside the building to ensure he would not be allowed to rest. The building itself had no electricity or heat, and the outside temperatures were in the high teens.