Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a massive investigation was underway Sunday after a detective was shot in the back and another police officer was injured in Brooklyn when a man holding a gun approached their parked car.
During a press conference at Kings County Hospital, where both cops were being treated for their injuries, Tisch said the shooting took place at around 4:14 a.m. on Nostrand Avenue in St. John’s Place. According to the top cop, Detective Robert Carroll was sitting inside an unmarked police vehicle with other cops after they had been reassigned to a July 4 safety detail from Sail250 patrol.
An 18-year-old man reportedly approached the vehicle holding a firearm, however, Tisch noted that the cops did not have their body-worn cameras activated — she surmises due to the sudden nature of the incident. As a result, the particulars of how exactly the incident unfolded is still being investigated.
“Given the lack of body-worn camera in this incident, the circumstances of the approach are still unclear, but we can say that officers exited their vehicle and attempted to engage the armed individual. There is also ballistic damage to the department vehicle that the officers were sitting in, including bullet holes in the front and rear windshields and the passenger side of the car,” Tisch said.
At least three police officers opened fire on the suspect, but he was not struck. He then reportedly made a run for it until he was ultimately apprehended blocks away on Rogers Avenue and Union Street. A struggle ensued when cops tried to handcuff the gunman, leading to officers tasing him.
The firearm recovered.NYPD
A Sar9 nine millimeter handgun was recovered.
Although authorities didn’t say exactly how the two injuries took place, Carrol was struck in the back by a bullet but was saved by his department vest, and a second female officer suffered an injury to her face and shoulder after falling to the ground during the chaos.
“One detective was struck in the back of his ballistic vest. X-rays show a contusion to the detective’s back near where the bullet struck his vest,” Tisch said. “I have visited with Detective Carroll, and I am grateful to report that he is expected to make a full recovery. His ballistic vest performed exactly as it was designed, and today that vest saved his life.”
Police declined to give any further details on the gunman, only confirming that he is 18 years of age and that he was caught five minutes before the shooting on surveillance video holding a gun one block away. Meanwhile, Tisch stated that detectives are undertaking a massive video canvas to determine exactly what unfolded.
President of Detectives’ Endowment Association Scott Munro pointed out that it has been mere weeks since another detective was injured in a shooting during a standoff with an armed man and was taken to the same hospital for treatment.
“Three weeks ago, we had a detective shot in the same hospital. This has to stop. Our members are out there day and night, hours and hours, protecting the people of New York,” Munro said. Thank God this detective is going home.”
Both Tisch and Mayor Zohran Mamdaini lamented the similarities to almost a decade prior on the same day when Police Officer Miosotis Familia was sitting in the front seat of her cruiser following her overnight shift when a gunman snuck up to her car window and fatally shot her.
“We are marking nine years since Detective Familia was targeted and murdered in a similar fashion. I know there are countless NYPD officers and New Yorkers mourning Detective Familia today, for whom this morning’s news is a reminder of the risk that NYPD officers assume each and every day, and how we must still work to lift the scourge of violence from our city,” Mayor Mamdani said.