Man Who Said He Was Shot By Robber Did It Himself: Detectives

By Charles Rogers

A Canarsie resident who two weeks ago told police he was shot in the hand by a thief will have to see his wound heal while spending some time in jail for giving a false report, according to police from the 69th Precinct.

Winston Campbell, 30, of East 83rd Street at first reported he had been shot at 3:30 a.m. on February 24th by one of two men who tried to rob him. But his report turned out to allegedly be false, according to officers from the local detective squad.

Detective Sean Powell, who was assigned to the case, followed up on the assault-and-attempted robbery by talking to doctors who treated Campbell at Brookdale Hospital after the incident. The doctors told him that the wound appeared to be self-inflicted.

Taking that information, Powell went a few steps further and checked priors — previous records — on Campbell and found he had been arrested in the 67th Precinct area recently on an alleged drug charge. Checking yet further, the detective found that there is a warrant out for Campbell in Baltimore, Maryland.

"I guess I got the suspect’s confidence," said Powell, "because we got to talking and some of the information he gave originally about being shot in the hand by a couple of bad guys just didn’t sound right."

After a series of interviews, Campbell confessed, Powell said. The suspect stated that two men appeared to be a threat to him as he got out of his car the morning of the shooting and he proceeded to draw a gun in order to protect himself.

"As he picked up the gun to confront the would-be robbers, it went off," Powell said, "and a bullet struck him in the hand. He called police and gave them the report that he had been a victim of a robbery attempt."

Campbell was charged with reporting a false incident and criminal possession of a weapon.