Detective Shoots Two in Gang Attacking Him

A private detective shot and critically wounded two members of a gang that attacked him as he walked home from the subway in Greenwich Village on Friday, police said.

Authorities decided not to bring charges against David Barrett, 37, saying the shooting was a case of self-defense. Three of the youths who attacked Barrett were arrested.

Barrett said he was walking alone when five to seven youths attacked him. As he was being wrestled to the ground, Barrett pulled out a gun and fired two shots, hitting two of the youths, police said.

Barrett, a medical corpsman during the Vietnam War, administered first aid to one of the injured, police said. The other wounded youth staggered to a parking garage a block away where he was apprehended by police and brought to a hospital.

A third gang member was apprehended at the hospital when he brought the mother of one of the shooting victims to see her son.

The two shooting victims were listed in critical but stable condition. One of the wounded and the third youth arrested by police were charged with second-degree attempted robbery. The other injured youth was charged as a juvenile. Police were searching for at least three other suspects.