Gunman Allegedly Opens Fire On Officers Responding To Shooting In Washington Heights
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A shootout paralyzed part of upper Manhattan on Thursday morning. Police converged as a dispute between neighbors turned violent.
Dozens of NYPD officers, SWAT teams, and emergency responders swarmed Washington Heights, shutting down traffic on Amsterdam Avenue for nearly 30 blocks.
At around 11 a.m., reports started coming in of a man barricaded inside his apartment, shooting down at the ground below.
"We heard the shots and I started recording on Facebook Live about 30 seconds after," witness Dana Rubera told CBS2's Jessica Moore.
Rubera was inside his apartment across the street from the scene.
"I let one of their plain clothes guys in to get a vantage point from our balcony, and then we had three tactical guys up on our roof," Rubera said.
Chopper 2 captured video of SWAT officers canvassing the rooftop, as the person inside the second-floor unit refused to surrender.
"We are really surprised," neighbor Ada DesChamps said. "I know this is not the best neighborhood, but I've never seen any type of stuff like this, so many police."
Police said the shootout started with a group of people throwing rocks at a second-story apartment in a building on West 163rd Street.
"At some point a shot was fired out of that apartment, striking a male in the face. It looked like it was small rounds. They came out from maybe a shotgun. A possible shot was fired back towards the apartment," NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said.
Investigators said the 31-year-old man who was shot in the face was the shooter's intended target and with whom the shooter had an ongoing dispute. Police said the man caught in the crossfire was rushed to Harlem Hospital in serious condition, but is expected to survive.
At one point, police took four people into custody for questioning. The investigation is ongoing.