Suspect in custody after detective shot in Rahway, New Jersey
RAHWAY, N.J. -- A suspect is in custody after a Perth Amboy police detective was shot and injured in Rahway, New Jersey.
The detective, whose name has not been released, was executing a warrant on 20-year-old Angel Santiago, who was wanted for an aggravated assault in Perth Amboy on July 23, according to the Union County Prosecutor's Office.
Detective shot in legs, remains hospitalized
Thursday, investigators remained on the scene of the brazen shooting, which happened on the corner of Maple Avenue and Broad Street in Rahway late Wednesday night.
We're told there was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect.
The detective was shot three times, according to the New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Association. He was shot in the legs and recovering at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
"His fellow officers took quick actions to prevent tragedy. Thank you to the doctors and nurses at RWJUH for their excellent care," the PBA said Thursday.
According to witnesses, a neighborhood hero ran to help the detective after he was shot.
"She put a tourniquet on his leg and then the cops took him and brought him to the hospital," one man said.
Santiago was shot in the leg, the prosecutor's office said.
Bullets struck a home and several cars, neighbors say
Neighbors said they heard shots after seeing a sedan park on Broad Street and several young people running up the street. Some bullets struck the side of a home and several parked cars.
"I heard like three or four shots, and didn't hear nothing at all. So I looked through the window, and police was just here ... Right there on the bottom of the tire there, fired from somebody's gun. I don't know who it was," said Ephraim Bridgeforth. "I'm surprised it didn't catch on fire. That's the inside right there."
"I thought they were fireworks. So we were making dinner, I had like lemons in my hands, and we were laying on the kitchen floor. We got up and we locked the front door, closed the blinds," another neighbor said.
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office is investigating the shooting, which is the protocol when an officer's weapon is fired.
The mayor of Rahway initially said multiple people were in custody, but that was incorrect.
Residents don't feel safe
Even though the mayor said the community no longer faces a threat, neighbors said they haven't felt safe for some time.
Residents said the neighborhood has been anything but calm over the past year.
Corner drug deals have turned their lives upside down, they said.
"There are always kids fighting and when I say kids, it's like 50 or 60 kids that the cops have to be called because it turns into a brawl. There are always kids sitting on the corner," a neighbor said.
Residents said they want police to install cameras in the area and beef up patrols.