Police Shoot Armed Suspect in Brooklyn

Police say the suspect's .380-caliber semiautomatic weapon was recovered

An armed suspect is in critical condition after being shot by police in Brooklyn.      

The NYPD says the suspect was shot just after 11:30 p.m. Thursday in the rear of 255 Havemeyer St., near a housing project, in Williamsburg, after a standoff between the suspect and two officers.

The officers had spotted the suspect in a stolen car, and when they tried to stop him, he fled, crashing into several parked vehicles on S. 8th Street before getting out and running to Havemeyer Street, where the officers caught up to him. 

Officials said the cops fired only after the suspect fired at them. 

"He has a 9-millimeter handgun, which he fires two rounds at the officers," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. "They return fire, and they shoot a total of nine rounds."

The alleged shooter was taken to Bellevue Hospital. The officers were uninjured. 

Police say the suspect's .380-caliber semiautomatic weapon was recovered. The suspect's name has not been released, though Kelly said it was not his first run-in with the law: He has three previous arrests, and had served seven years in prison for assault.

A second man was also in the stolen car and got away during the mayhem, officials said.

The explosion of gunfire rattled the neighborhood just before midnight. 

"It sounded like the Fourth of July," said Jessie Rosario, imitating the sound of firecrackers. 

"We heard the guy screaming, we heard the cops say whatever they said to him -- 'stop, stop, stop,'" said another neighbor. "Right after that, all you hear was the shots let off, and that was it... There were more than nine shots fired, back to back." 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us