NYPD officer is shot in the back while on plainclothes patrol in the Bronx
NYPD officer, 31, is shot in the back while on plainclothes patrol in the Bronx, with suspect, 24, taken into custody as city tallies THIRD shooting of police officer in three months
- The officer was chasing an armed suspect at 10.30pm in the Soundview section
- He was wearing a bullet-proof vest but was shot below and is in ‘significant pain’
- The 31-year-old is expected to survive the shooting and a suspect is in custody
A New York Police Department officer was shot in the back late Tuesday as he patrolled the Bronx as part of an anti-gun violence unit.
The 31-year-old officer, whose name hasn’t been released, was in plain clothes and was shot in the lower back as he chased after an armed suspect who was known to the department, the New York Times reported.Â
The shooting, which occurred around 10.30pm in the Soundview section of the Bronx, marks the third shooting of a New York police officer in the last three months.Â
Police investigated into the early morning hours of Wednesday, looking for evidence after an 31-year-old NYPD officer was shot while pursuing a suspect
Fellow officers transported the shot officer to a nearby hospital in the Bronx. A large group of them investigated at the scene into the early Wednesday hours
Riot police scoured the area near the Bruckner Expressway in the hours after the shooting and retrieved a handgun from under the car
Police Chief Dermot F. Shea said at an early Wednesday news conference at Jacobi Hospital that the officer was expected to survive.Â
He was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but was shot below it and is in ‘significant pain’, Shea said.
The officer, a member of the Gun Violence Suppression Division, identified the gunman while driving on Lafayette Avenue toward White Plains Road and attempted to stop him along with three other officers in his division.
The chase quickly turned into a gunfight during which the suspect fired at least four shots. The officer fired back once before he was struck by a bullet.
The 24-year-old suspect from Tuesday’s shooting is in custody, police sources said, and a handgun was later recovered from under a car.Â
He wasn’t named, but police said he had an arrest record in New York and in New Jersey.
The shooting took place on the intersection between Lafayette Avenue and White Plains Road in the Soundview section of the Bronx
Riot police scoured the area near the Bruckner Expressway in the hours after the shooting.Â
The wounded officer is a six-year veteran of the force and devotes his time to getting guns off the streets. Â
Many of his relatives have also served in the police department and New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio, who visited the hospital, commended his ‘extraordinary bravery’.Â
‘He’s someone who goes out and puts his life on the line to protect other people in the most powerful way, by depriving criminals of their firearms,’ deBlasio said.Â
‘Anyone who wants an example of how hard the N.Y.P.D. works, how committed our officers are, you see it this evening in the Bronx’. Â
He was in a stable condition early Wednesday.
Officers showed up in force to investigate the shooting of their fellow NYPD officer, an incident that marked the third shooting of an NYPD officer in as many months
The shooting is the third of NYPD officers in just three months.
In November, two officers were injured in Queens during a shooting in which the gunman was killed.
On Christmas Eve, another officer in Brooklyn was shot when responding to a call about domestic violence, and he survived thanks to his bulletproof vest.
Shootings in New York doubled in 2020 on the previous year despite the deadly pandemic which has forced people to stay at home off the streets.
There were 1,531 incidents registered last year, with murders also rising by 44 per cent to 462.Â
Police officials believe a surging firearms black market combined with a rise in street feuds caused by the pandemic and economic woes are behind the increased crime levels.Â