Metro

US marshals, armed man trade gunfire in Queens

Police at the scene where a perp was shot while US Marshals where executing a warrant for his arrest.William C Lopez

Gunshots were fired at US Marshals and NYPD cops when they used a battering ram to make their way into the home of a suspected drug smuggler in Queens, authorities said.

Oswald Lewis was armed with several guns and wearing a bullet proof vest when the Marshals broke down the rear door of his Springfield Gardens home on 175th Street around 11 p.m. Tuesday. He then unleashed a hail of bullets at the specially trained squad.

“The guy inside just started busting shots at the cops. The cops ran for their lives,” said witness Aberdean Lysaith, 31. I swear I’ve never seen cops run like that and they had their guns drawn.”

Police sources said Lewis, who was wanted for cocaine trafficking, fired anywhere between 15 to 20 shots from inside the house before heading into the backyard.

There, he came face-to-face with NYPD cops who provided backup for the Marshals.

The fugitive fled back into the house before he was shot in the hand, after which he tossed his weapon out the door and surrendered.

The perp was shot in the wrist while wearing a bullet proof vestWilliam C Lopez

“I’m shot, I’m shot. Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot,” Lewis whimpered to cops.

The team of Marshals tackled the man and cuffed him as he walked out of the house and then loaded him into an ambulance.

“They dragged him out,” said Lysaith. “One of the cops stepped on his head. They disarmed him, took his bullet proof vest off and put him on the stretcher. He was bleeding like crazy.”

Lewis was wanted on drug charges in three states — North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland — and is suspected of stabbing a man in Brooklyn earlier this year, law enforcement sources said.

In recent days, investigators obtained information that he was going back and forth between Brooklyn and Queens, trafficking cocaine in the East Flatbush area.

“He was on the run for a long time — since the 90s,” said a police source.