An off-duty FBI agent who shot an alleged thief in the back told prosecutors yesterday he fired after the suspect looked at him and “made a motion,” sources told The Post.
The agent and his lawyer met with reps from Queens DA Richard Brown’s office, and the agent read a statement about the early-Wednesday shooting, they said.
“At one point, he said the person looked up at the window and made a motion,” the source said about the agent’s statement.
The agent, whose name has not been released, fired a round from his bedroom window at about 5:15 a.m. as Adrian Ricketts allegedly broke into the G-man’s Lexus, sources said.
Ricketts remains in serious condition at Brookdale Hospital, where he was charged with grand larceny and criminal mischief.
Ricketts, 23, and a pal allegedly removed a passenger window of the agent’s red Lexus in South Ozone Park.
Sources said the thug targeted the vehicle because he owns the same model and wanted to put its radio in his car.
Prosecutors will decide whether to take the case to a grand jury.
Criminal-justice experts, meanwhile, cautioned critics not to assume the agent acted improperly.
The agent’s wife was in the home with their 5- week-old child.
“[If] one of those individuals made a furtive movement to a waistband [or] a pocket and they didn’t raise their hands, that’s [still grounds for use of] deadly force,” said Philip Scala, an ex-Army ranger and 29-year FBI vet who now runs Pathfinder, his own security outfit in Garden City, LI.
Scala stressed that he wasn’t judging whether the agent had acted properly, just explaining a scenario that could justify the shooting.