An off-duty corrections officer shot his girlfriend's ex after a dispute in East Flatbush yesterday. A witness told the Post that 34-year-old Kai Gates was shot by 31-year-old Dale Moore after Gates cut Moore off in traffic and Moore "tapped" Gates's Cadillac SUV with his Mercedes: "The guy in the black SUV gets out…He stepped out with his hands up, yelling 'What's up?' " A law enforcement source says that Moore told Gates, "Don't come any closer," but Gates refused to heed his warning. Moore then shot Gates twice, as Shalonda Smith, who was riding with Moore, ran to Gates's aid. "She was holding him as he collapsed between the cars," the witness said.
Gates is in critical condition at Kings County Hospital. Smith works as a captain in the Corrections Department at Rikers Island in the same unit at Moore. A spokesman for the DOC tells the Times that Moore did not carry a weapon on the job, but that "correction officers are trained to use firearms and allowed to carry one while off-duty." Michael Skelly, a spokesman for the union, told the paper "This was a very tragic incident. At the end of the day, we believe the investigation will reveal that Correction Officer Moore acted in self-defense."
Moore has not yet been charged with a crime, and the shooting is still under investigation.
