A New York City officer was shot in the hand Tuesday night as he and a partner on the public safety team confronted a suspect near Crotona Park in the Bronx, police said. .
Two uniformed officers were on patrol near Third Avenue and Claremont Parkway around 10:45 p.m. when they spotted the man, and one of the officers approached him, police said. at a news conference on Tuesday night.
James W. Essig, chief detective with the New York Police Department, said the man, 25-year-old Rameek Smith, began to flee and officers gave chase. Officers followed Mr Smith to Bathgate Avenue, where Mr Smith turned and fired two shots, hitting one of the officers, the sheriff said. Officers returned fire, and Mr. Smith was shot in the head.
A spokesperson for the Police Department said he died early Wednesday morning at St. Barnabas.
The officer who was shot was in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital late Tuesday, police said.
Police say a 9mm Glock pistol stolen last year in Richmond, Va., was recovered at the scene.
It is not clear why officers initially decided to spy on Mr. Smith.
Police say Mr. Smith, who provided his address as a homeless shelter on Staten Island and has relatives in the Bronx, had an extensive arrest record. Sheriff Essig said he is awaiting sentencing next month on weapons possession charges after being caught with a shotgun at a subway station in Brooklyn.
“This is the problem,” Eric Adams, mayor of New York, said at a news conference held at Lincoln Hospital. “The arrest took place in March 2020, and for 20 months after his arrest he remained on the street.”
Mr Adams said: “The number of shootings that we face every night is despicable.
The shooting is the latest in a series of attacks on police officers who have examined Mr. Adams, a former police captain and transit officer who has vowed to enhance public safety after increasing some crimes during the pandemic.
In late January, two police officers were killed after being shot inside a Harlem apartment while answer the call about a mother and son fighting. Earlier that month, an officer was hospitalized after being shot while sleeping in the car outside a station in East Harlem.
On January 19, a single bullet fired by a teenager hit a police officer and the gunman as they scuffled in a confrontation in the Bronx.
Ashley Southall, Chelsia Rose Marcius and Derrick Bryson Taylor contribution report.
