A South Jersey family’s fight for justice continues more than one year after their son was shot while driving home from work. The road rage incident left 30-year-old Kishan Patel permanently disabled.
Now, a former New York Police Department officer is expected to spend a decade behind bars after pleading guilty to shooting Patel.
Patel has spent the last year in a specialized facility in Texas as a quadriplegic with limited brain function requiring around the clock care.
On Friday, May 17, 2024, police responded to a multi-vehicle crash at the intersection of Route 73 and Cooper Road in Voorhees Township, New Jersey. When they arrived, they found Kishan Patel, 30, of Voorhees, suffering from a gunshot wound. Patel was taken to the hospital for treatment.
After analyzing surveillance video, cellphone records and ballistics evidence, Voorhees Township Police and the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office identified Hieu Tran, 27, of Yonkers, New York, as the suspect in the shooting. Police said Tran – an officer with the New York City Police Department – used his department-issued firearm and shot Patel during an apparent road rage incident.
Investigators said Tran was off-duty at the time of the incident and had just left a wedding in the area. After the shooting, Tran “calmly drove north, stopped for gas, went home to New York, reloaded his weapon and went to work the next day,” according to attorneys for Patel’s family.
Investigators said shell casings at the crime scene matched Tran’s department-issued service weapon.
Attorney Joseph Marrone is representing the Patel family who filed a lawsuit against the city of New York alleging that the city knew the former officer had significant mental health challenges with longstanding alcoholism.
“It was known by his superiors and other officers and they did nothing,” Marrone said.
The New York City law department declined to comment but the NYPD confirmed that Tran was terminated from the department.
Tran pleaded guilty to attempted murder and is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 15.
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