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October 2, 2002 Woman Hurt in NYC Housing Shooting
Filed at 6:26 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- A former police officer shooting from his apartment window wounded a preschool teacher
taking children to a playground during a three-hour spree in a sprawling housing complex.

Brian Berrigan, 33, was found sitting at a table inside his fourth-floor apartment at Stuyvesant Town,
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Bullets crashed through windows and into parked cars, hitting the shoulder of the 22-year-old teacher,
whose name was not released. There was no indication that the shooter knew the teacher.

None of the six or seven children from the Manhattan Kids Club preschool was injured, and the
teacher was expected to be released from Bellevue Hospital, Kelly said.

At least 20 shots were fired, including one at a police car.

``He was firing at windows. He fired at people. He fired at the police vehicle,'' Kelly said.

Police cordoned off sections of the sprawling development as officers in helmets and bulletproof
vests searched for the shooter. Police snipers took positions on rooftops.

More than 25,000 people live in Stuyvesant Town, a middle-class development, and the adjoining
Peter Cooper Village on Manhattan's East Side.

Some residents were evacuated while others were told to stay in their apartments. Nick Dovas said
he saw a woman sitting on the ground being treated by paramedics when gunfire erupted.

``They heard another shot, and they got her up and hightailed it into the building,''
he said. ``When I heard the shot, I ducked back. It sounded really close to me.''

Berrigan was taken to a police station for questioning. Authorities said they didn't know
if he had retained a lawyer. His home telephone number was unlisted.

An officer for two years, Berrigan was dismissed in 1997 after a routine drug test detected
cocaine in his system, Kelly said.