A suspect wanted in Tuesday's late-night robbery and shooting of a 33-year-old off-duty police officer in Brooklyn has been located and arrested on Long Island, law enforcement sources familiar with the case tell NBC 4 New York.
Law enforcement sources said the suspect was arrested by members of a U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force during a traffic stop in Rockville Centre. He has not yet been identified, and it's not clear if he was the gunman.
The officer, who has nine years on the job, was walking to a car with two cousins and a friend with whom he had been watching a basketball game in Gershwin Park when two suspects robbed them at gunpoint, sources said. The suspects stole cash, a cellphone and jewelry before driving off.
The off-duty officer and the three people he was with got into their car and tried to follow the suspects, who fled across Lincoln Boulevard, the sources said. They drove up Miller Avenue, where one of the suspects confronted them, firing at the off-duty officer, the sources said. The officer wasn't hit then.
The four victims continued to follow the suspects' vehicle, described as a blue BMW 5 series, on Bradford street. A second round of gunfire erupted, and the officer was struck twice, once in the arm and once in the leg.
The Range Rover the off-duty officer was in is registered to his aunt; it has damage from gunshots and will be processed as part of the investigation, the sources said.
The officer, identified as Tramaine Oxley by New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, remains in stable condition at a hospital. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.
