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Even the mom of the gun-toting bandit who allegedly tried to rob a Brooklyn salon has only good things to say about the hero cop who thwarted the heist.
“What a great police officer — she did what she was trained to do. I would have done the same thing,” said Cheryl Cox, 54, the mother of whimpering suspect Winston Cox, 19, who officials say tried to knock off Sabine’s Hallway Beauty Salon in Fort Greene on Saturday, only to be foiled by off-duty cop Feris Jones.
“I’m just thankful to God the police officer is OK — she did a good job,” the mom, who has filed eight domestic-violence complaints against her son, told The Post yesterday.
Jones, known affectionately as “Jonesey” to neighbors, shot her service revolver for the first time in her 20-year career during the stickup — and like an Old West gunslinger, blasted a gun right out of the hands of the bandit.
She then somehow managed to blast off the handle of the shop’s front door to temporarily trap him inside.
“Her reserve under fire was matched only by her marksmanship,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
NYPD brass were so impressed with Jones’ actions that she is being promoted to detective today, sources said.
Kelly hailed Jones just hours after officers nabbed Cox cowering in a single-residency-occupancy hotel at 1:05 a.m.
Cox answered the police door-knock with his bloodied hands wrapped in paper towels. Asked if he was hurt, he whined, “She shot me in the hand,” officials said.
He was charged with attempted murder and robbery.
Jones, 50, was off-duty and casually dressed in a T-shirt and jeans sitting in a salon chair having her hair styled at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday when the stickup occurred, authorities said.
Cox allegedly entered the shop shouting, “This ain’t no joke! This is a robbery! I will kill you!” at the four women — Jones, another customer, the salon owner and an employee.
Cox, armed with a .44 Magnum, ordered the four women into the bathroom at the back of the shop and demanded their wallets, police said.
When he allegedly began rifling through drawers in the front of the shop, Jones sprang into action.
The evidence-collection specialist silently unholstered her .38-caliber five-shot Smith & Wesson revolver and hid it behind her leg, police said.
“Everybody get down!” the hero cop shouted, then ran from the bathroom to confront Cox, officials said.
He fired at her, and, “She [then] fires, hitting him in the hand and knocking the gun out his hand,” Kelly said. “He picks [his gun] up and tries to get out [the] front door, and that handle has [already] been shot off. I am suggesting [Jones] was aiming.”
Cox started screaming, “Open the door! Open the door!” before picking up his gun and finally kicking out a glass panel in the front door and crawling out on his hands and knees.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona