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(The Manhattan DA’s office run buy Alvin Bragg U-turned on Sunday by saying it would not charge a garage security guard who shot a suspected thief on Saturday.)
A Manhattan parking garage attendant who was shot twice while confronting an alleged thief — then wrestled the gun away and opened fire on the suspect — has been charged with attempted murder, police said.
The overnight worker, identified by cops as Moussa Diarra, 57, was also hit with assault and criminal possession of a weapon charge in the Saturday incident, which unfolded around 5:30 a.m. as the attendant saw a man peering into cars on the second floor of the West 31st Street garage, the sources said.
Believing the man was stealing, the attendant brought him outside and asked what was inside his bag.
Instead of cooperating, the man pulled out a gun, the sources said.
Diarra tried to grab for the weapon, and it went off — leaving him shot in the stomach and grazed in the ear by a bullet before he turned the firearm on the would-be thief and shot him in the chest, sources said.
The suspected thief, identified as Charles Rhodie, 59, was also charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, as well as burglary, police said late Saturday.
While police hit Diarra with attempted murder, it wasn’t immediately clear if prosecutors would follow through with the charge.
The initial charges against Diarra sparked outrage — and recalled the case of Manhattan bodega clerk Jose Alba, who was charged with murder after a fatal July 1 confrontation in his store with an angry customer who came behind his counter and accosted him.
Family friend Mariame Diarra, who is not related to the attendant, slammed the decision to hit the married dad of two with charges.
“That’s self-defense. The guy tried to rob his business,” she told The Post. “He’s there for security. That’s literally his job, to defend his business. … He takes his job seriously. … Attempted murder charge has no place there. He [robber] came to find him at his job with his gun, he [Diarra] has to defend himself.”
An individual who works nearby the garage, which is across from Moynihan Train Station, was also incredulous.
“You are kidding. That’s an April Fool Day joke, right?” the worker asked of the charges against Diarra, adding, “How can a hardworking man get arrested for defending himself?”
Alba spent six days in Rikers before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dropped the controversial murder charge amid intense public pressure to do so.
One cop who heard of the attempted-murder charge against the parking garage worker snarled, “People like Alvin Bragg have made this city unsafe, and this worker is a victim defending himself.”
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Moussa and Rhodie, who both live in Manhattan, were taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition after the incident, authorities said.
This aerial photo shows the movie set of “Rust” at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., on Oct. 23, 2021.
ABCNews
The first assistant director for “Rust” has been sentenced to six months unsupervised probation as part of a plea deal in connection with the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
David Halls, 63, was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon in connection with the October 2021 shooting on the Santa Fe set of the Western. Halls had handed a Colt .45 revolver to Alec Baldwin that fired while the actor was practicing a cross-draw, striking Hutchins. Attorneys for Halls and Baldwin have said neither knew there were any live rounds in the firearm.
During a virtual plea hearing on Friday, Halls pleaded no contest to his misdemeanor charge. He answered the judge’s questions though did not make any further statement on the incident.
“He, like many others, is extremely traumatized and just rattled with guilt and so many other feelings of, what could I have done better? How could I have changed things?” his attorney, Lisa Torraco, said during the hearing.
Torraco asked the judge for a deferred sentence and argued that his role as safety coordinator was not to control how people handled firearms but to ensure there were safety meetings held.
“Mr. Halls is in a lot of pain and a lot of trauma. He was 3 feet from Ms. Hutchins when the firearm went off. No one expected this,” Torraco said.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey argued that as safety coordinator, it was Halls’ responsibility to ensure that the firearm did not have any live rounds and that there had been previous safety issues on set involving firearm discharges.
“Obviously this was a very serious incident. A young woman lost her life,” Morrissey said while asking for a suspended sentence.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommers ultimately sided with the state, telling Halls, “I am not persuaded that a deferred sentence is appropriate for you in this case.”
In addition to six months unsupervised probation, the terms of the sentence include that Halls pay a $500 fine, perform 24 hours of community service, take a fire safety course within 60 days, testify in all hearings involving the shooting and have no contact with co-defendants or witnesses.
Baldwin and the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were both charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins’ death. Gun enhancement charges for both were dropped in late February.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to his charges and has also denied pulling the trigger. Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney has said she intends to plead not guilty and has said she has no idea how live rounds ended up in the gun.
Both are scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on May 3.
Halls’ hearing comes days after Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced she was stepping away from prosecuting the case and appointed Morrissey and Jason Lewis to serve as special prosecutors.
Troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol had to escort the members to avoid being completely surrounded by the mob, with video showing the troopers had to shove protesters out of the way. One lawmaker can be seen having to hold on to a troopers as they made their way through the angry crowd.
Despite the unhinged display, some of the media claimed the protest was “peaceful.” One local reporter, Kelsey Gibbs, posted video of the chaos, deleted it, and posted it again while insisting nothing bad had happened.
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“This was a peaceful protest. Students, parents and their supporters went through Capitol security to lobby for gun control in the Capitol. No one was arrested. This shoving started when THP needed to make way for lawmakers,” she said.
Other mainstream media outlets did not air the chaotic scenes in their reporting.
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