Police Commissioner William Bratton says half of all subway crime in the past year involved a sleeping victim. Two police officers were shot while on patrol in a public housing project on Thursday night and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and a suspect was in custody, authorities said.
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Police had a similar initiative in 2012 after a rash of subway-related thefts. Police were in the process of obtaining a search warrant to recover more evidence from the apartment. One of the two men – 23-year-old Malik Chavis – allegedly led the officers toward an apartment under the guise of retrieving ID, then “opened fire on the officers in the hallway”.
“Our courageous officers were doing their jobs tonight in our public housing, on patrol keeping our residents safe, when they confronted an armed assailant”, de Blasio, flanked by several NYPD officials and Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center that he had met with the family of one of the officers, while the other family was on the way.
The officers are awake and alert at a hospital.
– AP writer Colleen Long contributed to this item.
One of the men in the stairwell fired at the officers and fled to an apartment of an acquaintance.
In the hectic first moments after the shooting, officers rushed to the scene, searching for suspects by air and ground, as housing residents wondered what had happened. 2016, as Mayor Bill de Blasio looks on.
He touted lower crime in New York City, including a 3 percent drop in shootings in 2015 and a almost 10 percent increase in gun arrests. Their conditions were not immediately known.
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He wrapped up his speech shortly after 8:30 p.m. His spokeswoman said he was briefed as soon as he left the stage and was headed to the hospital.
