Suffolk County authorities fired a shot at a 60-year-old man who pointed a handgun at two narcotics investigators during a drug raid at his Wading River home Tuesday evening.
Thomas Michael Counihan was not hit by the gunfire but was admitted to a psychiatric unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center after initially pointing the loaded, Colt .45-caliber handgun at his head and chest, authorities said.
“It is clear the police officer’s discharge of his weapon, given the circumstances, was justified,” Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said. Counihan dropped to the floor after the shot was fired.
East End Drug Task Force investigators said they found 250 packets of heroin, two ounces of cocaine, marijuana, a syringe and nine unlabeled prescription bottles containing various pills while executing a search warrant at the suspect’s Wading River-Manor Road home.
Counihan will be face gun and drug charges when he is released from the hospital, Spota said, noting that Counihan’s record includes a 1985 armed robbery in Southampton.