Off-Duty NYPD Officer Shot In Arm In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – An off-duty NYPD officer was shot early Tuesday morning in the Bronx.
It happened just after midnight in the area of East 138th Street and Brook Avenue in the Mott Haven section.
Police said the officer was dropping off another member of the NYPD when a bullet grazed his right shoulder. He was using his personal vehicle and was not in uniform.
The 33-year-old officer was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he was treated and released. Investigators do not believe he was the intended target.
Watch: Surveillance Video Shows Shooting Suspects
"It was crazy. I tell you, I didn't want to come down," said Rafy Hernandez, who lives nearby. "I was thinking of moving, because I'm raising my two daughters by myself and I'm getting scared."
The shooting closed streets in the area, forcing students to find different routes to the two schools within a block of the scene.
"The school is really safe and it has a lot of cameras and it has security. And if anything was to happen, they would stay in school until it was resolved," Lower East Side resident Allison Hubbard said.
Police are trying to track down four men with dark complexions wearing dark colored hooded sweatshirts, dark pants and dark shoes. One man can be seen on surveillance video raising a gun and firing.
"It was very disturbing. And then when I heard it was a police officer that got grazed, then it was like oh OK," said a Mott Haven resident.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.