NYPD Officer Released From Hospital After Thanksgiving Eve Shooting In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One of two NYPD officers shot Wednesday night in the Bronx was released from the hospital Thursday.
Fellow officers and Mayor-elect Eric Adams clapped and cheered her on as she was escorted to a car.
"She's going to be able to be home and enjoy her turkey with her loved ones," Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said.
Meanwhile, the suspect remains in critical condition at Saint Barnabus Hospital.
As CBS2's Lisa Rozner reported, police were seen looking for shell chasings on Beaumont Avenue near 187th Street on Thanksgiving morning, after nine shots ran out just after 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
"It's alarming. It's concerning. There's so much that's changed in the last year and a half right inside this block," nearby pharmacy owner Roger Paganelli told Rozner.
The NYPD said someone called 911 saying a man on a stoop had a firearm. Two uniformed officers who were walking in the vicinity discussing tactics saw a man who fit the description, and, Commissioner Dermot Shea said, within seconds they were in a gun battle, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported.
"As the male officer opens the front gate, he's speaking to the individual and he immediately says, 'Can you take your hands out of your pockets?' As he takes a step towards him, the individual stands up, the gun comes out, and the shots are fired," Shea said. "It all happens within a second."
"You heard a flurry of gunfire and then sirens and just a big commotion," Paganelli said.
Another witness, who did not want to be identified, described the scene.
"It was just chaos, total chaos, and I was traumatized. That block is one of the worst blocks," the witness said.
Police said the suspect fired four shots and the female officer fired five. She was struck twice in the arm and her partner was hit in the chest.
"Here's his duty shirt. Here's the bullet hole that enters in his right armpit area. And he's sitting in a hospital bed right now with a bullet comes out his left chest within inches, obviously, of a much different outcome," Shea said.
Exclusive video shows officers rushing to the scene to help the female officer, followed by the male officer being escorted out of the area.
"What strikes you as you watch that video, is the speed in which it happens, and the no regard for human life," Shea said. "You have two New York City police officers at 8 o'clock in the evening on Thanksgiving Eve walking up to an individual in uniform on a Bronx Street, and immediately that individual takes out a gun and starts shooting. If that doesn't tell you we have to take a second look."
Police said the 23-year-old suspect has been arrested several times before for incidents involving a robbery, a weapons charge and narcotics.
A man who lives in the area said the suspect is known in the neighborhood as someone who doesn't bother anyone.
"After that happened, a little riot broke out because everyone was mad he got shot," the resident said.
Police said the gun allegedly used by the suspect was reported stolen in Georgia.
Police said the female officer has been with the NYPD for one year and her partner has eight years on the force. He remains in stable condition at the hospital.
CBS2's Ali Bauman contributed to this report.
