Man With Fake Gun Gets 33 Years in 2019 Friendly Fire Death of NYPD Detective

What to Know

• A man charged in the 2019 friendly fire death of an NYPD officer was sentenced to 33 years in prison plus 5 years post-release supervision
• Det. Brian Simonsen was shot in the chest in February 2019 as he and six other officers opened fire on Christopher Ransom during a robbery at a T-Mobile store in Queens. Ransom signed a plea deal last month
• Ransom, who police say was pointing a fake handgun, had said the shooting stemmed from a “prank gone horribly wrong”

A man charged in the 2019 friendly fire death of a veteran NYPD detective was sentenced Wednesday to 33 years in prison, plus five years post-release supervision, after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter and robbery.

Christopher Ransom, who had initially been charged with murdering 42-year-old Det. Brian Simonsen, waived his right to appeal during last month’s plea hearing and answered affirmatively to questions asked by Judge Kenneth Holder in court.

Simonsen was shot in the chest in February 2019 as he and six other officers opened fire on Ransom during a robbery at a T-Mobile store in Queens’ Richmond Hill neighborhood. Another sergeant was wounded.

Ransom, who police say was pointing a fake handgun, had said the shooting stemmed from a “prank gone horribly wrong.” He said he returned the workers’ money — a claim that investigators deny — but police were already responding.

NYPD officers discharged a total of 42 rounds at the scene within 11 seconds, investigators have said. 

A criminal complaint released after the shooting said Ransom and another man netted $1,000 and 25 iPhones from the robbery. They planned to split the proceeds.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Ransom, 30, “set in motion a terrible chain of events that began with a robbery and ended in a spray of bullets.”

In an interview after his arrest, Ransom said he was “not a monster” and didn’t anticipate what happened. Police described him as a career criminal with more than two dozen arrests prior to this case; friends called him an eccentric prankster.

The Legal Aid Society, which represented Ransom in the case, released a statement Wednesday saying their client “takes full responsibility for his actions.”

“The resolution of the case, however, should not detract from the immense physical and emotional pain that he continues to endure as a result of injuries sustained in the NYPD’s friendly fire shootout,” the statement said.

Ransom, who has 25 prior arrests including one for impersonating a police officer, was shot eight times on that winter day in 2019.

The Legal Aid Society says he’s still scarred, physically and emotionally.

“He will carry physical scars and emotional trauma from this event for the rest of his life. Despite this, Mr. Ransom is committed towards seeking rehabilitation and redemption,” the group said in a statement. “We hope that the NYPD also takes this opportunity to reexamine their own procedures and training so that a tragedy like this never happens again.”

A 19-year veteran of the NYPD, Simonsen was known since childhood as “Smiles” for his bright, welcoming nature, colleagues and friends said.

He grew up on the east end of Long Island. He and his wife continued to live close by in Calverton — more than an hour’s drive from the 102nd precinct where he spent his entire NYPD career. Simonsen was survived by his wife and his mother.

“This is a difficult day for his wife, a difficult day for his family,” Detectives Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo said of the expected sentence after last month’s plea. “Christopher Ransom, I hope he spends every day of that 33 years behind bars and thinks about how many people’s lives he’s affected.”

At the time of his death, top NYPD officials said the entire department respected and appreciated Ransom as a police officer, a colleague and a friend.

“There wasn’t a person in the 102 that didn’t know him, from the cleaner to the command officer,” then-NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said at the time of Simonsen’s death. “He was who you called if you had a problem. Wasn’t just the cops who knew him well, the community, everyone knew him, that he’s the cop you reached out to if a problem needed to be handled.”