A pistol-packing Harlem parolee was fatally shot during a violent struggle with two plainclothes detectives yesterday – the second police shooting in three days.
As fists flew, one of the detectives managed to draw a gun and fire two rounds, hitting 41-year-old Leroy Smalls once in the stomach, police said.
Smalls, who police said was carrying a loaded .380 Colt semiautomatic handgun, was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he died at 9:08 p.m.
Smalls had 16 previous arrests for drug possession, weapons possession, assault and robbery and was paroled last July 15, cops said.
The shooting occurred shortly before 5 p.m. in the lobby of 2120 Madison Ave., one of the buildings of the Lincoln Housing Project at Madison and 132nd Street.
Police said two detectives from the 25th Precinct went to the building armed with a description of a homicide suspect.
As they were walking into the lobby, the elevator door opened and Smalls – who fit the description – walked out, cops said.
A vicious fight broke out. The cops were bloodied and bruised and their suits ripped, police said.
After Smalls was shot, backup cops recovered the .380 semiautomatic, which had seven rounds inside. Cops said it had been stolen in Maryland in 1997.
It was not clear if Smalls was the man they’d been looking for.
The shooting was the second by 25th Precinct cops in three days.
On Monday, Sgt. Juan Solla opened fire at two unarmed drug suspects as they tried to flee down a fire escape at 248 E. 120th St., a reputed marijuana-processing site, cops said.
Solla squeezed off 10 rounds, grazing Devon Williams, 34, and Wayne Maxwello, 27.
A cell phone and a pair of scissors were found on the fire escape, but it wasn’t clear if Solla had mistaken those for a gun.
Residents of the Lincoln project said Smalls was married and had a daughter, grew up in the project and had many relatives there.
They described him as quick to help out others.
“He’s a nice guy for real,” said tenant Michael Jones, 18. “I saw him three minutes before it happened and he was helping an old lady bring her shopping bags into the building.”
“He wasn’t a troublemaker,” said Sharmay Watson, 42, who had known Smalls for years. “They’re going to make him look like a monster, but he’s not.”