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While the shootout and standoff unfolded on Staten Island, Mayor Bill de Blasio's aides say he went to the gym to work out for about 80 minutes in Brooklyn.
Garland Tyree set-off a smoke bomb when police tried to enter his apartment. That is when FDNY Lt. James Hayes entered and was shot in the left calf and buttocks.
The suspect was still barricaded in the house mid-morning and the firefighter was in the hospital while the mayor completed his workout at the YMCA in Park Slope.
Mayoral spokesperson Karen Hinton tweeted: "@BilldeBlasio spoke with Fire & Police Commissioners several times by phone on shooting early morning & at gym. At gym for 80 min."
According to Hinton, the mayor left the gym at 10:40 a.m. and went directly to the hospital.
The mayor brushed off the question during a public briefing.
The mayor refused to directly answer questions about this as he briefed the public on what happened at the standoff.
"We're briefing you all on a very serious situation and that's just not a serious question," de Blasio said at the news conference.
But people outside the mayor gym had a more critical view of his actions.