MTA cop Barnett.
GORY: The troubled Edgar Owens (right) said nothing before plunging a gravity knife into the eye of MTA cop Barnett (left). After the 13-year veteran cop shot the psycho dead, the knife lay beside a pool of blood (above).
SHOCKER:Hero cop John Barnett’s ex-wife and son arrive at Jamaica Hospital yesterday, as an investigator examines the scene at the Jamaica LIRR station (above).
SHOCKER:Hero cop John Barnett’s ex-wife and son arrive at Jamaica Hospital yesterday, as an investigator examines the scene at the Jamaica LIRR station (above).
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An MTA cop who survived two wars as a Navy officer was stabbed in the eye by a police-hating lunatic at an LIRR station — but the bleeding officer managed to shoot his attacker dead before the man could strike again.
“He’s a real hero,” MTA chief Joe Lhota said of Officer John Barnett, who has also served with the NYPD.
“He told me, ‘Hey, I survived Iraq. I survived Afghanistan. I will survive this,’ ” Lhota said as Barnett headed to surgery at Jamaica Hospital.
Barnett had blood gushing from his left eye — which was nearly sliced in half — and streaming down his face as he staggered back and ordered Edgar Owens to drop his knife.
“Police! Don’t move!” Barnett, who was on duty, yelled outside Jamaica Station in Queens.
But the maniac didn’t listen — and came back at Barnett with his illegal gravity knife, forcing the cool-headed cop to fire four times.
Despite the gruesome injuries the officer sustained in the unprovoked attack, three of his bullets hit their mark — striking Owens in his jaw, hip and chest. Owens was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital, while Barnett was listed in critical condition.
Barnett, 45, underwent 4 1/2 hours of surgery and was moved to the intensive-care unit. Surgeons called the wound “devastating” and said it would take two or three days to determine if he’ll lose vision in that eye.
The injured officer was in uniform when he was attacked, and MTA officials believe he was targeted because he’s a cop.
Owens, 46, had a history of confrontations with police, including an incident in 2006 when he walked into the 26th Precinct station house in Harlem and punched an officer.
A year later, he walked into the 103rd Precinct house in Queens and told cops he would punch somebody if they didn’t arrest him, officials said.
They obliged and sent him for a mental evaluation, sources said.
The super at Owens’ former residence in The Bronx described him as “mentally disturbed.”
He said he’d been placed in the building as part of a program for mentally ill but had never been violent.
The assault began shortly after 9:30 a.m. outside of the station, near Sutphin Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue.
Barnett was standing at a taxi stand talking to a dispatcher when Owens walked up to him holding a knife at his side, MTA officials said.
Video surveillance shows that Owens didn’t say a word before plunging his knife into Barnett’s face.
One witness described a chaotic scene after Barnett opened fire.
“We started backing up, and we saw people running and pulling out their phones and taking video,” said Rockville Centre, LI, resident Steve Lopez, who was being dropped off by his girlfriend when shots rang out.
When police first arrived on the scene, they found Owens sprawled out dead on the ground, with Barnett sitting hunched over with his face covered in blood.
“In a split second, he confronted a violent person, an individual who posed a threat directly to him and to everyone around him,” Lhota said.
“He took action without regard to his personal safety. I am absolutely in awe of his bravery.”
MTA officials said the 13-year veteran, who lives in Suffolk County, had never fired his weapon in the line of duty before. “He’s not the gunslinger type,” said an officer who knows him. “If he shot someone, he was defending himself.”
Barnett’s sister, mother and 12-year-old son were by his side at the hospital.
“He was in good spirits” in the hospital, the sister said. “He said he’s going into surgery as a fighter, and he’s coming out as a fighter. And he said he was hungry!” laughed older sister Belinda Barnett-Andrea.
Barnett has been running marathons across the country to raise money for several charities, his sister said.
The goal is to run marathons in all 50 states within the next five years.
“He’s a brave young man,” said his mother, Betty.
The attacker’s ex-girlfriend, Monica Gowe, was in shock. “Edgar’s a sweetheart. He’s not like that,” she said, adding that he’d been in a program for the mentally ill and took anti-psychotic medication.
“He faithfully took his medicine,” she said, sobbing. “[This] doesn’t make sense.”
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Dareh Gregorian, David K. Li, Joe Mollica and Natasha Velez