Awee bit overdone
Cops fire 77 bullets at gunman
BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA and ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Firing 77 bullets, cops wounded an ex-con early yesterday after he shot at another man and turned his weapon on police outside a Manhattan housing project, authorities and witnesses said.
Cedrick Rooks began spraying bullets outside the Taft Houses shortly before 1a.m. and was still waving his .32-caliber gun when he was confronted by a dozen cops, witnesses said.
He allegedly shot five to seven times at the cops before his gun jammed.
Six officers from Manhattan's 23rd and 28th Precincts and an NYPD housing unit fired at least 77 rounds at Rooks in two bursts of gunfire, said Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.
Rooks, who was on parole for a robbery conviction, was hit in the hip, neck and shoulder in front of 5 E. 115th St. He was in stable condition yesterday at Harlem Hospital. No cops were wounded.
"The cop was like, 'Get down!' And the guy didn't get down," said a 23-year-old woman who witnessed the shootout. "He shot at the other boys and at the police."