The vigilante arrested for opening fire during a robbery attempt in a Manhattan subway station yelled “Get away from her!” at the would-be mugger — just before he pulled a pistol from his backpack and sent a couple rounds flying down the platform, sources said Thursday.
Cops found John Rote, 43, of Astoria, Queens, sitting at his work desk at about 2 p.m. Wednesday at Panavision, a company on Varick Street that rents camera and filmmaking equipment.
71-year-old Hell’s Kitchen resident Percy Palmer is supportive of Rote’s alleged actions.
“I don’t think it was too much, though, because you don’t know what that person had that’s attacking that woman instead of asking her, may I have a dollar or something like that,” Palmer said.
No injuries were reported. After firing the shots, police say Rote took off and was eventually being taken into custody Wednesday.
Police also arrested the alleged panhandler whom they say is well known to them. He has been identified as 49-year-old Matthew Roesch.
Rote was taken into custody at his Manhattan job Wednesday around 2 p.m. after someone recognized him from the footage.
Video below:
NEW: New York man John Rote has been arrested after he saved a woman from getting robbed by a homeless man in a Manhattan subway station.
The current state of New York City.
On Tuesday evening, Rote noticed that a woman was getting robbed and immediately jumped into action. The… pic.twitter.com/1vbhjowNpl
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 9, 2023
Photos from the incident below:
Rote – who has no criminal history and has never been described as in need of mental help – was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment and menacing for the caught-on-camera shooting, the NYPD said.
He faces three and a half years in prison, if convicted, prosecutors said, while the third-degree attempted robbery charge against Roesch carries a sentence of up to seven years.
Rote’s defense attorney, Marie Calvert-Kilbane, said Rote had legally bought the gun about 13 years ago — and argued that he was just a “concerned” citizen looking out for the safety of a fellow straphanger.
“This is not someone who was buying [guns] on the street,” Calvert-Kilbane, of New York County Defender Services, said at Rote’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday evening, adding that her client was “concerned for his safety and someone else’s safety and reacted … [Rote] was really concerned for someone else.”
She argued Rote should be cut loose because he has no criminal record and has worked at the same company for 17 years. He could not afford any bail higher than $2,000, and his West Virginia roots mean he could not enlist anyone else to help him pay – he has no family in the Big Apple, she said.
“I’m asking that my client be released today so that he can come back and continue fighting this case from outside rather than inside Rikers Island,” the public defender said.
Judge Jay Weiner set bail at $10,000 cash, bond or credit card at the request of prosecutors, noting the seriousness of the charges and the potential flight risk Rote posed due to his out-of-state connections.
A grand jury will review the case on Nov. 14, when Rote is due back in court, Weiner added.
