Sources: Man Killed in NYC Gunfire Appears to Have Shot Cop
The police officer who was shot in the chest after coming across an armed, naked man when responding to a disturbance call at an apartment building in Manhattan early Wednesday appears to have been shot by the suspect, who was killed in the violent encounter, two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation tell News 4.
The NYPD is expected to make an official announcment Thursday afternoon.
The officer, who has not been identified, had been wearing a bullet-resistant vest, and police say that vest saved his life. No other cops were wounded.
NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill previously said the officer was taken to a hospital in stable condition and released later Wednesday morning. The 29-year-old suspect was shot multiple times and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.
According to a law enforcement official, the suspect was the super of the building and his mother is an NYPD cop in the 52nd Precinct.
Eight uniformed officers responded to a report from a resident who said a man was harassing her at her Frederick Douglass Boulevard building in Harlem, banging on doors and breaking glass around 2 a.m. Wednesday. They ascended to the second floor of the apartment and began their search for the suspect.
One of the officers then encountered a naked man, who pointed his 9mm semi-automatic pistol at him, according to O'Neill. A violent struggle ensued -- the officer, a 34-year-old cop with seven years on the force, was punched multiple times in the face -- and shots were fired, O'Neill said. It wasn't immediately clear whose shots killed the suspect and wounded the officer, but cops said the suspect's weapon was recovered at the scene. The gun case was in the staircase.
The injured cop, who is assigned to the 32nd Precinct, is married to another NYPD officer, a woman he met in the police academy, authorities said. The mayor and O'Neill met with the couple Wednesday.
"Thank God for his vest. He's alive and well," Mayor de Blasio said at St. Luke's hospital.
The suspect, identified by a senior law enforcement official as Victor Hernandez, has had previous interactions with police related to domestic violence, O'Neill said. His most recent arrest was in 2014 for criminal contempt, the official said.
The site of the shooting is located just across the street from Police Service Area 6 and officers quickly responded to the scene. Cellphone videos posted to Citizen App NYC showed heavy police response, with several patrol cars lining the street and escorting the injured officers to the hospital.
Photo Credit: News 4
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