NYPD: 2 in custody after manhunt for cop shooting suspects
NEW YORK -- Two suspects are under arrest Tuesday after two New York City plainclothes police officers were shot and wounded responding to a robbery Monday night, according to the NYPD.
The shootings sparked a massive manhunt in the city. One of the suspects was seen on a surveillance video from the crime scene in the Bronx. Both officers are recovering and in stable condition, according to police.
The shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. Monday near East 184th Street in the Tremont section of the Bronx.
Minutes before, the officers were coming off their shift when they and three other plainclothes officers responded to a report of a robbery at a deli on nearby 180th St. Two men entered the store wearing masks, robbed the store and left with a duffel bag full of cash, police said at a press conference Tuesday.
The suspects were later identified as Jason Polanco and Joshua Kemp, police said.
The officers, part of an anti-crime unit, began canvassing the area and were in a car when they spotted two possible suspects in the robbery. One suspect, believed to be Polanco, ducked into a Chinese restaurant.
When the officers got out and approached Kemp, Polanco opened fire from the restaurant, forcing the officers to shoot back. Police said a bullet from Polanco's gun wounded Kemp, passing through Kemp's bicep and striking an officer.
The suspects fled, and Polanco fired more rounds at the officers, according to police. Kemp fled on foot and Polanco carjacked a white Camaro, which was later found abandoned, police said. A revolver was recovered nearby.
Kemp later showed up at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital to seek treatment for his wound, according to police, with a bogus story that quickly fell apart after detectives questioned him.
Polanco was arrested Tuesday as he was walking with another man, who police later determined was uninvolved with the crime.
Kemp was charged with commercial robbery. Polanco is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer, robbery and carjacking.
Police received 29 tips after releasing surveillance video of one of the suspects captured shortly before the incident, and 10 of those tipsters identified the man as Polanco, police said.
The two officers shot are 30-year-old Officer Andrew Dossi, a Rockland County Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq, and 38-year-old Officer Aliro Pellerano, reports CBS New York. Dossi was shot in his left arm and lower back, and Pellerano was hit in his left arm and chest.
Both officers were in stable condition, and Pellerano was expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday morning, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said Tuesday.
Bratton lauded the officers.
"At this time I'd like to publicly commend them for their response to this incident and the bravery they exhibited in terms of dealing with the individuals they encountered," Bratton said.
New York Mayor Bill de Balsio also praised the officers, saying Monday they went "above and beyond the call to protect their fellow New Yorkers."
The shooting came about two weeks after two officers were fatally shot while sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn.
On Dec. 20, Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down in their patrol car by a man who vowed online to kill "pigs." The man opened fire, then ran into a subway where he shot himself to death.
Ramos was buried Dec. 27; Liu was buried Sunday. Tens of thousands of officers from around the country attended the funerals. Many turned their backs as de Blasio spoke because some say he is anti-police.
One of two officers wounded in the Bronx incident was not pleased that de Blasio visited him in the hospital, the officer's father told the New York Post on Tuesday.
De Blasio went to St. Barnabas Hospital late Monday night to visit the wounded officers, identified by the Post as 30-year-old Andrew Dossi and 38-year-old Aliro Pellerano.
Dossi's father, Joseph, told the Post that his son "wasn't too happy about the mayor's visit."