OCC officer wounded outside bar was shot with his own gun, police say

Syracuse, N.Y. — An off-duty Onondaga Community College police officer who was wounded outside a Syracuse bar was shot with his own gun, police said.

Syracuse police are still searching for the person who pulled the trigger, according to Kieran Coffey, a spokesperson for the Syracuse Police Department. Police believe they know the identity of the person but have not yet located the suspect, he said.

The OCC officer, Shane Prue, 46, was shot in the leg shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9, outside McAvan’s Pub at 1217 W. Fayette St., according to a criminal complaint filed in Syracuse City Court. His gun was a Glock 43X, a 9mm pistol, Coffey said.

Prue was taken to Upstate University Hospital. He was released the same day, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Coffey and a college spokesperson would not confirm whether the gun was the officer’s service weapon. It is registered in Prue’s name, Coffey said.

Asked if the gun was an OCC-issued service weapon, Roger Mirabito, OCC’s spokesperson, would only say “our officers are not allowed to bring their service revolvers home.”

Mirabito also would not comment on Prue’s employment status at OCC.

Coffey said another man, Yaseen Shehadeh, was involved in the confrontation that led to the shooting but was not accused of firing the shot. Shehadeh was arrested at the scene after officers found him in possession of a stolen Taurus 9mm handgun and approximately 7.9 grams of cocaine, according to police and court documents.

Police said surveillance video showed a dispute in the pub’s parking lot shortly after 1 a.m. Police described the altercation as both verbal and physical before escalating to a shooting.

Police were initially alerted by a ShotSpotter activation and when officers arrived, they found Prue wounded on the ground.

Police have not released further details about what led to the argument, how the shooter gained control of the officer’s weapon or any details about the suspect.