Dog owner killed in Central Park shooting

One of the dog owners involved in a fatal stabbing in Central Park last year was killed in a shootout with New Jersey police in June, the Post reported.

Karl Gregory, 46, was shot and killed shortly after midnight on June 13 inside the Royal Albert's Palace Hotel in the Fords neighborhood of Woodbridge Township, according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office.

The shooting, which left two officers wounded, occurred just as a hearing was about to begin in the baffling Manhattan dog stabbing case that captured national attention last summer.

According to police sources, Gregory, at the time of his death, had gone from suspect to victim in the case that was sparked by a fight between his three miniature pit bulls and a 15-year-old German shepherd named Eli, who was fatally stabbed.

Immediately after the incident, the convicted dog's owner, Brian Cornwell, told police and reporters that Gregory's dogs attacked Eli while he was walking in the park after dinner with his wife and their other pet, a small chihuahua, on a Saturday in June 2023.

Cornwell claimed that during the fight between the dogs, Gregory stabbed Eli with a switchblade, and Cornwell sprayed Gregory and his dogs with tear gas.

Police first printed wanted posters with Gregory's photo, asking for identification for questioning in the stabbing of a dog near East 106th Street and Fifth Avenue in the park.

Other Central Park dog owners told The Post at the time that Gregory's dogs were a known nuisance in the park's northeast quadrant.

Days later, police told reporters that the attack was an accident and that Gregory was trying to cut the dogs' tangled leashes when he missed his target and stabbed Eli by mistake.

Months later, in February, investigators charged Cornwell with four misdemeanors, including third-degree assault and second-degree menacing — even though prosecutors claimed he was the actual dog attacker, court records show.

When Gregory died, he was wanted by New York police for questioning in connection with another crime: a June 7 retaliatory shooting in East Harlem that left an innocent bystander brain dead, according to police sources.

Edison, New Jersey, police officers were alerted to Gregory's presence in the Garden State on the night of June 12 by an automated license plate reader. Edison officers then notified the NYPD, according to the attorney general's office.

Officers from the Edison and Woodbridge police departments and NYPD officers went to the hotel on King Georges Post Road where they found Gregory's empty car outside, the attorney general's office said.

Officers entered the hotel to interview witnesses when, at 12:21 a.m., the elevator doors opened and Gregory emerged “carrying several bags,” which he then dropped on the floor while rummaging through a black backpack, the attorney general's office said.

Gunfire was “exchanged” between Gregory and Woodbridge officers Drew Krupinski and Justin Nerney and NYPD Detective Matthew Mauro, according to a news release from the bureau, which did not specify who fired first.

Gregory was shot and died at the scene, according to the attorney general's office, which noted that a handgun was recovered nearby.

Constable Nerney and Detective Mauro were also shot and taken to a New Brunswick hospital for treatment and have since been released, the attorney general said.

The New Jersey Office of Public Integrity and Accountability is investigating Gregory's death.

The prosecution in the dog attack relied on Gregory as a witness, and the Manhattan district attorney's office asked to have the charges dropped after his death, said Cornwell's attorney, F. William Salo.

Prosecutors had alleged that Cornwell started the fight in the park that day, carried a knife and stabbed Gregory's dog and his own dog Eli, according to Salo.

Cornwell was also accused of throwing pepper spray at Gregory during the fight and brandishing the knife as Gregory fled, Salo said.

But Cornwell insisted on his innocence, telling the Post that Gregory was the dog's killer.

Cornwell added that he was holding a bicycle key ring in his hand during the altercation, not a knife.

His attorney had filed a motion to dismiss the case before Gregory's death.

At a scheduled hearing on the motion on June 13 — just hours after Gregory was killed in the shooting — Salo said prosecutors had asked to dismiss the case, which has since been sealed.

Cornwell said he believes the case against him is retaliation for filing a complaint last August with the NYPD's internal watchdog – the Civilian Complaint Review Board – alleging that the investigating detective was not properly reviewing the case.

“It took four days for investigators to talk to me. Then I was told my investigation was not a priority,” Cornwell said in an interview.

He now plans to sue the NYPD and the district attorney's office.

Meanwhile, Gregory's friend Marlon Delgado struggles to come to terms with the violent death of his former basketball teammate.

Delgado had known Gregory since 1996, when they played together at Central Connecticut State University.

Delgado told the Post he will remember Gregory as a “provider and protector” to his young daughter Kali.

“The discussions we had were about those types of issues. We were talking about gentrification and gun violence in the neighborhood, what needed to be done, policy and community action,” Delgado recalls.

“So none of this makes sense.”