(NEW YORK) — Two New York City Police officers were shot but are expected to make a full recovery after a “gun battle” broke out in the Bronx on Wednesday evening.
Police say the perpetrator, who was not immediately identified, was also shot and had undergone surgery but is expected to survive.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said during a news conference Wednesday from St. Barnabas Hospital that the entire incident was captured on body camera footage. The two officers were responding to a call from a community member who was concerned about a man with a gun in the neighborhood.
“They’re walking up there, discussing tactically how they will approach, and they immediately encounter this individual who’s sitting on the front stoop of the building,” Shea said of the officers. “Within seconds, they are in a gun battle.”
A female police officer was struck twice in the right arm and a male police officer was shot in the right armpit area, according to Shea. The suspect, who Shea said had a record of previous arrests, was struck three times.
The firearm was reported stolen in Georgia last year, according to Shea. The body cam footage was not immediately released, but Shea said it indicates that the first shot was fired by the suspect and hit the female officer in the arm.
“What strikes you as you watch that video is the speed in which it happens,” Shea said. “And the no regard for human life.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the public can expect to learn more about the two officers in the days ahead. But he is thankful they are alive.
“I want to give thanks that these two, Thank God, are OK, and it looks like they’ll make a full recovery,” de Blasio told reporters.
“We also got to recognize there are too many guns out there, so another example of a gun from out of state comes into our city hurts a New Yorker,” the mayor added. “This is something we’ve got to deal with in a whole different way.”
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