NEW YORK (1010 WINS/ AP)  -- A retired police sergeant whose erratic behavior frightened his family into committing him to a psychiatric hospital fled the ward Tuesday and was killed by officers during a gun battle outside his home.


Steve Sandberg Reports

The barrage of gunfire turned a Staten Island neighborhood into a virtual shooting gallery, with officers firing 19 shots at the distraught former officer, who died within a few feet of his three children, ages 3, 5 and 7.

The episode came hours after Jason Aiello's cousins and wife took him to the psych ward because they were concerned about his increasingly bizarre behavior. Aiello kept quoting Scripture and said he needed to get away and wanted to take his family out of the city for safety's sake, police said.

Aiello had worked as a bodyguard and driver for a jeweler who was gunned down in a possible mob hit in April, and he had been questioned recently about the slaying, prosecutors said. It's unclear whether that episode contributed to his emotional unraveling.

The hospital where Aiello was committed Monday night called 911 Tuesday morning, reported he had walked out and said he likely had access to weapons.

Shortly after, Aiello's mother called 911, reporting he was holding his wife and three children hostage at his home.

When two officers from Aiello's former precinct responded, he was in the street arguing with his wife about taking the children away, police said. The couple's 7-year-old son and 5- and 3-year-old daughters were in the family minivan on the street.

Officers who tried to restrain him said they took a handgun from a holster on his back, but as they were trying to handcuff Aiello, he broke free and pulled out another gun.

``Jason, put the gun down,'' one of the officers said, according to the police account.

Instead, Aiello fired twice at the officers as he ran toward a cousin's SUV across the street, police and witnesses said. The officers returned fire as Aiello got into the car; one officer fired nine times, the other 10.

Aiello's wife ran to the SUV amid the gunfire and got in the passenger's side to try to stop her husband, police said.

Aiello fired at least five more times before he was killed. He was hit twice in the shoulder and back and was grazed in the head, police said. No one else was hurt. The children remained in the van as the bullets flew.

Chief police spokesman Paul Browne said the shooting appeared to be justified; a preliminary investigation showed the officers faced an imminent threat of serious physical injury or death. The cousin's vehicle was riddled with bullets, but no neighboring homes were hit.

Aiello's family members and their attorney say police used ``more than excessive'' force, and they disputed the NYPD's account.

Attorney Peter Antioco told the Staten Island Advance that the first gun was removed by a family member before police arrived, and that Aiello's wife took the second gun away from her husband while they were in the car and yelled at the police not to shoot.

The former sergeant was on the force for 12 years and retired in 2006 on disability because of a knee injury, police said. He apparently had no history of emotional problems.

He had recently worked as a bodyguard for his friend, jeweler Louis Antonelli, who was gunned down outside a Staten Island restaurant in April. FBI officials said they believe Antonelli had a business relationship with members of the Genovese crime family, and the hit may have been ordered by one or more members of the family.

Aiello was questioned several times in the slaying, but was not charged in the case.

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Inset photo of Aiello from Steve Sandberg