An off-duty Correction Officer getting a haircut in his Brooklyn neighborhood shot and killed a man who strolled into the barbershop waving a gun, police said.
In a strange twist, the slain gunman lived right next door to the Corrections Officer — and their families have engaged in a bitter feud for decades, according to neighbors.
The gunman, identified by sources as 77 year-old Carmelo Calabro, died of a single gunshot wound to the head, authorities said.
Cops said he walked into Naciones Barbershop at 1706 Bath Avenue in Bath Beach waving a gun.
The officer — who sources said was Michael Mininni — pulled out his weapon and the two ended up in some kind of struggle, before he fired on him.
“I heard an argument. … Lots of commotion,” said witness Enrique Perez, 48, who lives above the barbershop. “That’s when I heard gunfire.”
It’s unclear what the Calabros and the Mininnis — who have lived next store to each other on Bay 13th Street for decades — have fought about or if their feud had anything to do with today’s violence.
“They hate each other. They don’t talk to each other but I never saw them fight each other,” said one neighbor
At one point, Calabro built a six-foot high brick wall to separate their property — even though a chain link fence already divided them.
Nearly everyone on the block said they knew about the feud but no one knew why.
“Sometimes he was not easy to get along with,” a neighbor who’d known Calabro all his life.
Calabro — an ex-boxer — was known for his quick temper, and had pulled a shotgun on a neighbor before, said the neighbor.
A police source said that Calabro and Mininni had argued about something earlier in the day.
His son is a NYPD detective in the 62 precinct in Brooklyn. Calabro lost another son on 9-11. Salvatore Calabro died working for the FDNY.
Mininni’s union issued a statement shortly in which they expressed support for him.
“The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association firmly believes Correction Officer Mininni acted in self-defense when his life was suddenly threatened by an apparent assailant,” said Norman Seabrook, president of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association.
We will do everything possible to ensure his rights are protected moving forward.”
The witness, Perez, said that Mininni told him, “This guy was going to take someone out. He was on the warpath.”
Perez said the gunman looked like he never had a chance.
“He had bullets in his face,” he said.
Additional reporting by Jamie Schram