NEW YORK -- One of the nine bystanders hit by gunfire when police shot and killed Jeffrey Johnson near the Empire State Building last week says an inch probably made the difference between life and death for him. 

In his first television interview Tuesday, Alberto Ramos of the Bronx told NBC 4 New York he was shot through his left foot, and that a bullet also came close to hitting his head.

"As I was getting up from the ground, I heard a round go right by my ear," he said, recalling the terrifying moments when police opened fire on 58-year-old Jeffrey Jones, the man accused of shooting and killing Steven Ercolino, a former colleague. 

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Ramos was working as a tour guide supervisor right where the shooting happened, on 33rd Street across from the Empire State Building Friday. 

Ramos, who had been working for his company about seven months, said he was speaking with one of his tour agents outside when he turned his head and noticed a man in a suit "from far away, down the block." Ramos turned back around.

Then, "about five seconds later, I remember the cops saying, 'Stay right there!' And I heard another scream, 'Stay right there!'" he said.

That's when Ramos saw the police officers usually posted at the Empire State Building approaching with their hands on their guns. When he looked to see who they were speaking to, he saw Johnson walking in his direction.

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"I remember the guy in the suit turning around, and next thing I know, he raised his hand, and there was a handgun in his hand," said Ramos. "And as soon as I saw that handgun -- you kind of freeze, and you kind of know what's coming next, and it's nothing good, when someone raises his gun to an officer."

"We took about two steps running toward the opposite direction, and that's when I heard pop pop pop pop," he said. 

Both officers had raised their guns to Johnson and fired a total of 16 rounds. Nine bystanders were hit, mainly by shrapnel and ricocheting pieces of bullets. 

Despite being wounded, Ramos defended the officers' actions.  

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"I have law enforcement in my family," said Ramos, whose stepfather is retired from the NYPD. "I don't blame the cops, not one bit."

The gunman's own mother echoed the sentiment in an interview published in the New York Times Tuesday, saying, "I believe that he turned and pointed the gun at them to make sure that they would shoot him and he would die."

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said the police officers acted appropriately, and in a question-and-answer session with reporters Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "If somebody pointed a gun at you, and you had a gun in your pocket, what would you do?"

As Ramos recovers, he hopes his injury won't keep him from following in his stepfather's footsteps -- he says he wants to join the NYPD in the future. 

Ramos' prognosis is looking good, doctors told him. The bullet went through tissue, not bone, though he may have to undergo surgery in the coming months. 

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Louis Lanzano / AP

Police lean over a sheet-covered body as they investigate a shooting outside the Empire State Building on Friday.

NEW YORK -- The man who shot and killed a former co-worker before being killed by police near the Empire State Building was being booted out of his apartment, a law enforcement official says.

Jeffrey Johnson, 58, an out-of-work accessories designer, killed Steve Ercolino, with whom he had been feuding, on Friday in midtown Manhattan. Nine bystanders were wounded as the result of police gunfire, three hit by bullets and six injured by ricocheted fragments.

A law enforcement official told NBC New York on Sunday that Johnson was subletting the Upper East Side apartment where he lived. The owner wanted to do renovations and asked Johnson to move out.   Johnson had a couple of weeks left until he had to go.  That added pressure may have helped put him over the edge, the source said.

A police source told Reuters that Johnson left his keys with his landlord on Friday to allow renovation of his apartment and apparently intended to never return.

“He left the keys in an envelope for the landlord with no intention of ever coming back,'' said the source.

Detectives searching Johnson's apartment found books on training and fighting skills such as "Techniques and Equipment of the Deadly Marksmen Snipers'' and `"Attack Proof - the Ultimate Guide to Personal Protection,'' the source told Reuters.

They also found a plastic case with 15 rounds of .45 caliber ammunition, the same kind he used to shoot Ercolino, and police planned to examine the contents of Johnson's home computer for more clues to his motive, the source said.

NBCNewYork.com: Construction worker followed shooter

Johnson had been laid off a year ago from Hazan Imports, across the street from the Empire State Building, where he was locked in a dispute with the victim, police said. Johnson claimed Ercolino had failed to sell enough of his creations and held a grudge, police said.

Johnson and Ercolino filed complaints about each other with police in April 2011, police said.

Slideshow: Shooting outside Empire State Building

Louis Lanzano / AP

A disgruntled ex-employee opened fire Friday morning near his old workplace in New York City, killing one. The gunman was then shot and killed at the scene.

Launch slideshow

NYT: After police bullets hit bystanders, questions about protocol 

Ercolino, 41, was a salesman at Hazan. He lived with his girlfriend in Hoboken, N.J.

Ercolino died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.  He was shot five times in the head and face, according to the medical examiner. He also had a superficial wound to chest that may have been result of a ricochet of one of the shots to the head.

NBCNewYork.com’s Jonathan Dienst and Reuters contributed to this story.

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