by Olivia Young

A New York Police Department officer was indicted June 11 for attempted murder after reportedly shooting a man outside of 167 W. 231st St. March 16, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office announced.

The defendant, 44-year-old Jonathan Baez, a Riverdale resident, was a police officer for 12 years, according to an email release from the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. Baez was off duty from his assignment to the Gracie Manson security detail around 9 p.m., when he reportedly approached a man and pointed his off-duty gun, the release said. Baez allegedly ordered the man to the ground, and straddled the man while pointing the gun at his back, the release said. 

Moments later, Baez fired two shots into a white Hyundai Genesis parked nearby, the release said. A bullet struck a 30-year-old man, who remains on a ventilator in the hospital, according to the release. 

Interior security footage from nearby restaurant Bronx Public appeared to show a rogue bullet from the incident going through one of the restaurant’s windows, shattering the glass.  No customers were harmed or sitting near the window, restaurant management told The Press in March. 

“Police officers are sworn to serve and protect the public, and even when they are off duty, they are expected to conduct themselves with integrity,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said in a statement about the incident. 

Baez’s attorney, Mark Bederow, is a private criminal defense attorney and former Manhattan prosecutor with more than 20 years of legal experience, according to the Law Office of Mark A. Bederow website. Bederow said an indictment is an “accusation based on a low level of proof and a one-sided presentation of evidence by a grand jury.” 

The district attorney’s office stated the indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt. 

“I would just simply caution people to keep an open mind, and that [Baez], like anyone else, enjoys the presumption of innocence,” Bederow told The Press. “He’s entitled to that, and people should just wait until the evidence is revealed in a court of law before drawing any conclusions.”

Before the incident

Two days before the shooting, Baez’s 2024 Honda CRV was stolen from his Riverdale apartment building, the Bronx District Attorney’s office said. Surveillance video footage showed a white Hyundai Genesis as being involved in the theft, and between March 15 and 16, Baez conducted over 200 unauthorized searches of NYPD databases to find his own car as well as the Hyundai, the office said. 

These databases included, but were not limited to, the Domain Awareness System, License Plate Reader and Intergraph Computer Aided Dispatch System, the office said. 

The office added Baez’s car has still not been recovered. 

According to online police records, Baez joined the force in January 2014. He was assigned to the Intelligence Bureau Uniformed Operations Unit in February 2025, and had no disciplinary history as of the date of the incident. 

The arraignment

Baez was arraigned on two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, first degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree criminal use of a firearm, two counts of second-degree criminal use of a firearm, attempted assault in the first degree, one count of first-degree unlawful imprisonment, nine counts of computer trespass, and official misconduct, the release said. 

Baez’s bail was set at $100,000 cash, or $250,000 insurance company bond or partially secured bond. He is due back in court Oct. 2, according to the district attorney’s office. 

Bederow said it was too early in the case to comment on what evidence the defense plans to  use. He also said that Baez followed all the rules of the court. The next step, now that Baez has been released, is to “roll up our sleeves as soon as we get some information from the prosecutor on where we go from here,” he said.  

Bederow added the defense hasn’t received anything other than the indictment so far in terms of discovery. 

The Bronx District Attorney’s Office  declined to comment further on the case. 

This is a developing story.

Keywords

Bronx crime,

Bronx District Attorney,

Kingsbridge shooting,

NYPD,

NYPD officer indicted,

attempted murder,

shooting,

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