Wild car chase from Staten Island courthouse leaves 1 dead, another shot

A person was killed and an innocent bystander was shot in the face when a chaotic courthouse gang fight spilled out onto the streets of Staten Island Tuesday.

The perps led court officers on a wild chase before plowing into a home at the corner of Fort Place and Montgomery Avenue, a witness told the Post.

The dead man, a 26-year-old, was found pinned between the roof of the van and house. A revolver was found on the windshield next to him, according to a court spokesman, Lucien Chalfen. A second gun was found nearby.

Police arrested four others at the scene and were still searching for the minivan driver.

The innocent bystander who was shot, a 67-year-old waiting at a Jersey Street bus stop, was caught in the crossfire about an hour later when a group tried to retaliate for the earlier car strike, police sources told the Post. She is in critical condition.

The original fight broke out around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday inside the Staten Island Courthouse on Central Avenue. Several people were kicked out and given summonses.

A black car and van soon pulled up and a group of eight people got out and began fighting with some of those booted from the courthouse, witnesses told the Post.

Court officers came out to break up the fight and the men fled in the minivan, Chalfen said.

It headed east on Central Avenue, made a U-turn and drove west to St. Marks before making a left onto Fort Place, where it crashed into the house.

“My heart is still pounding. It was scary. It was serious,” a witness told the Post about the chaos.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Yoav Gonen