A wheelchair-bound serial felon opened fire and wounded two Atlantic City police officers before he was killed in a shootout in heart-pounding bodcam footage that was released Wednesday.
It was the second time that police shot Donald Gardner, 52. He was previously wounded by officers in 2013 and was paralyzed from the waist down.
Atlantic City cops and the Atlantic County SWAT team were serving a search warrant on Gardner’s home on June 2 when he shot through the door as it was being breached, prosecutors said.
ACPD Officer Robert Reynolds then responded by firing his weapon multiple times through the open door, hitting Gardner.
Gardner, also known as Donald Capriotti, had an extensive criminal history. He died at the scene.
The two wounded officers were rushed to the hospital.
“Upon arrival at the residence, officers observed that the front door was initially open, but was then closed by an individual inside the residence,” the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said in a statement.
“Officers announced their presence and purpose at the door and then used a mechanical device to breach the door.
“As the door opened, Mr. Gardner, who was inside the residence, fired multiple gunshots at the officers.”
One of the wounded officers, Sgt. Christian Ivanov, survived a life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg which damaged his femoral artery and led to critical blood loss.
He was discharged from hospital two weeks later, according to 6abc Action News.
The second injured officer was shot in the head but was saved by his helmet.
The prosecutor’s statement said that a handgun was recovered from the scene and that the circumstances of the incident and the manner of Gardner’s death are under ongoing investigation.
The June shootout was at least the second time cops had shot Gardner, who was paralyzed from the waist down in another police shooting in Nov. 7, 2013, NJ.com reported.
Gardner was sentenced to 18 years in state prison in 2014 after pleading guilty to first degree possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and second-degree possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the outlet said.
He was released from prison on parole in 2023.
Previously he had pleaded to aggravated manslaughter after killing a friend in 1993 and was released on parole after serving 18 years of a 30-year sentence in May 2012, according to NJ.com.
After the shooting, Gardner’s mother, Tina Capriotti, told Fox 29 that he had been left dead in a wheelchair and that she wanted answers about what happened.
“I want to know why they killed my son, that’s what I want to know,” Capriotti said.
“They left him here until 2 o’clock in the morning dead in a wheelchair and they’d didn’t give me one minute, one minute to see my son.”
