NEW YORK — Firefighters say an FDNY lieutenant almost died because he wasn’t told by police officers that the home he was racing into housed an armed gang leader.
Lt. James Hayes, a 31-year-veteran of the FDNY, was shot twice by suspect Garland Tyree Friday while responding to a fire call at a home.
"[Hayes] absolutely didn’t know he was heading into a situation that dangerous,” one firefighter told The NY Post. “We’re the bravest, not the stupidest.”
A task force of heavily armed NYPD officers and federal agents had gone to arrest Tyree early Friday for a violation of his supervised release. The ex-con was a suspect in two murders. When police arrived at his home, they were met by smoke pouring up from his basement apartment.
They called the fire department and Lt. Hayes’ unit was first on scene. Hayes went in first, concerned that someone was in danger, and was shot in the hip and ankle.
“They didn’t tell us about anyone in the house or what was going on,” a second firefighter said. “They allowed us to walk in there without telling us what was going on.”
Police said Lt. Hayes and his fellow firefighters were given a summary of the situation and were told Tyree may be armed. Hayes was warned not to enter the home, according to law enforcement sources.
FDNY’s top official disputes that account.
When asked about the report by SIlive, an FDNY spokesman referred to FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro’s statement from Friday: “Well, certainly at the time the fire officer was not aware of the person’s history. There was no evidence that he was armed. There was evidence that there was a heavy smoke condition — an unknown number of occupants in the apartment. So, Lieutenant Hayes made a decision to search the apartment.”
“At the end of the day, his heart was in the right place,” one source said of Lt. Hayes.
There was a standoff at Tyree’s house for six hours before he was fatally shot after firing an AK-47 assault rifle from the house.
Lt. Hayes left the hospital Saturday and is expected to make a full recovery.