3 EMTs Answered Call When Shots Rang Out on LES Standoff

The radio transmission comes in jagged—voices overlapping, information incomplete, but urgency unmistakable.

Barricaded suspect. Shots fired. Possible officer down.

It’s just after 8 a.m. on February 18, 2025, in the Vladek NYCHA project on the Lower East Side.

By the time FDNY EMS units arrive at the scene, the street is tightening with tension. NYPD officers flood the block, emergency vehicles line the curb, and somewhere above them, inside a residential building, a suspect has barricaded himself in an apartment.

No one knows exactly where he is, and no one knows who else is inside. Captain Alexander Khalef doesn’t wait for clarity. He rushes to the scene with confidence and determination, as the best EMTs always do.

Assigned as EMT Station 04, Khalef assumes command of the EMS Medical operation on the scene. All units are staged, reassigned, and positioned with precision. Advanced Life Support and Basic Life Support teams are strategically placed as the situation escalates to a critical level.

Inside the building, NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers are moving floor by floor, searching for a suspect who has already proven he’s willing to shoot.

Moments later, the transmission cuts through the noise:

“Officer down.”

What was a coordinated operation becomes a race against time. EMS units are pushed forward into the building. The threat is still active, and the team must stay on high alert without losing their composure.

Paramedics Jose D. Parra and Paul Yoon don’t hesitate as they move through the building positioning first floor and moving floor by floor to the fifth floor. Khalef joins them as they advance to the sixth floor where they find the shot officer down in the hallway.

Parra and Yoon close the gap quickly and begin to pull the wounded officer away from the scene. The officer is moved quickly down the stairwell, transferred to a waiting ambulance, and rushed toward Bellevue Hospital.

Nearly an hour later, the barricaded suspect is finally removed from the apartment. He has sustained multiple gunshot wounds in a shootout with police during a more than three hour standoff and is in critical condition. Paramedic Paul Yoon steps in and Yoon initiates advanced life-saving care on the spot. There one and only job is to save a life, regardless of who the patient is.

In total, three patients are treated and transported that morning: the critically injured NYPD officer, the wounded suspect, and a second officer with minor injuries.

On FDNY Medal Day, stories like this are told in measured tones. But what those speeches and medals represent can’t fully be captured in a few paragraphs or a few minutes on stage.

The Tracy Allen-Lee Medal is awarded to EMS personnel who demonstrate exceptional bravery, clinical excellence, and dedication under extraordinary circumstances.

As Captain Andrew Brown, master of ceremonies of the annual FDNY Medal Day ceremony at City Hall Park on June 3 noted: “The actions of Captain Khalef, Paramedic Yoon and Paramedic Parra exemplify extraordinary leadership, clinical excellence and bravery under fire. Their decisive actions directly contributed to the rapid stabilization of and transport of critically injured patients while operating in an active threat environment.

“For their courage, professionalism and unwavering commitment to duty, they are being recognized with the Tracy Allen Lee Medal.”