Jury Mulls Case of Accused Cop Shooter

By ELIZABETH COLUCCIO & ANNA GLEKSMAN

The jury began deliberations on Tuesday in the case of a Sheepshead Bay man charged with the attempted murder of three police officers on Easter Sunday last year.

The judge impressed on the jury that they had to decide whether the prosecution sufficiently proved that Nakwon Foxworth, 33, was aware that he was shooting at officers.

Foxworth has been charged with menacing and three counts each of attempted murder and aggravated assault. Brooklyn district attorney Andres Palacio said Foxworth planned the attack, evidenced by texts sent to a friend just before the shooting that read, “Yo homie, I ain’t going back behind that wall, man” and “They’re at my door. They’re scheming on me.”

However, defense attorney Damien Brown said that the Emergency Service Unit officers shot first, and his client was only defending himself.

Foxworth was arrested after a shootout with the officers at his Nostrand Avenue apartment where the unit was called to settle a domestic dispute with a firearm. When they arrived, Foxworth was barricaded inside the apartment with his girlfriend and infant son. Detective Kenneth Ayala, who was wounded leading the officers into the apartment, testified that Foxworth began shooting as his girlfriend and son walked out of the apartment to safety.

Foxworth shot at the officers with a handgun, but also had a shotgun with military-grade bullets close at hand, leading investigators to believe was prepared to fight. Foxworth previously spent ten years in jail for weapon and drug-related crime, and two years as a juvenile for attempted murder.

Foxworth looked serious during court proceedings, wearing a gray button up and gold wire-rimmed glasses. His family, on the other hand, was more lighthearted; his sister, who did not wish to say her name, laughed and joked during breaks.