Pictured: the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Bradford Street. Photos by John V. Santore

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — An off-duty officer fatally shot a man early Monday morning in East New York, police said. According to the NYPD, the officer and the shooting victim, identified by The New York Post as Delron Dempsey of Jersey City, were each driving their personal vehicles at about midnight on July 4 when they became involved in a "traffic dispute."

The cars stopped at a red-light at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Bradford Street, at which point, according to an official police account provided to the media, the 37-year-old victim "exited his car and approached the off duty officer, who was still seated in his vehicle, and began to punch him repeatedly in the head through the car window." According to the account, "The off duty officer discharged his firearm during the assault. The male operator sustained a gunshot wound."

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical responders, while the officer was taken to Jamaica Medical Center with contusions to the head, the NYPD said. The Post cited a CBS News report in which a man identified as Delron's brother Victor said Delron had been on his way to a fireworks display with his wife and two children. Family members who arrived at the scene told the paper that Delron was shot in the head by the officer.

"He's dead. Lying here, no ambulance, no nothing," an unnamed cousin reportedly told the Post. "They shot him in the head."

A slightly different account was reported by NBC. Another man at the scene named Ali, also identified as Delron's brother, told the station that Delron was had been in East New York visiting his girlfriend, the couple's new baby, and the girlfriend's two teenagers.

Ali told NBC that Delron left his car to avoid fighting in the presence of his family. "The only reason he got out of the car was because the family was in the car," Ali reportedly said. "He was concerned. He wanted to question the guy, like, what's your angle?"