CNN is reporting that two New York Police Department officers were shot while in pursuit of suspects on gun charges in the Bronx borough of New York City on Saturday night. The officers, Brian Moore and Emmanuel Kwo, who are both 32 years old, were shot in the shoulder and face respectively.
This marks the first fatal ambush-style attack against a New York City police officer in several years. One officer, 28-year-old Wenjian Liu, was also killed by a disgruntled ex-university official in 2014. Though the suspect, 28-year-old Alexander Bonds, is still at large, the shooting was not an act of terrorism and is not believed to be connected to recent police-involved shootings around the US.
Photographs of Moore and Kwo, taken from New York City’s 41st Precinct stationhouse on Sunday morning, show the officers as they lie unconscious in bed, surrounded by NYPD officers with bandages covering the wounds they sustained.
Anthony J. Bragdon, Special Narcotics Prosecutor and New York City Police Commissioner Chuck Bratton, briefed reporters about the incident in a press conference on Sunday afternoon. “We still want to urge the killer of these officers to turn himself in and surrender,” Bratton said.
Bratton added that the gun used by the suspects in the shootings were illegal and were purchased by a convicted felon. When asked if anyone else was under investigation, Bratton said, “There may be others.”
A photo of wounded officer Brian Moore at the 41st Precinct show him unresponsive and surrounded by NYPD officers who had attended to him and provided first aid. His wound was unclear. (New York Police Department/AP)
A photo of wounded officer Brian Moore at the 41st Precinct show him unresponsive and surrounded by NYPD officers who had attended to him and provided first aid. His wound was unclear. (New York Police Department/AP)
The two officers involved in Saturday’s shooting were not wearing bulletproof vests at the time of the shooting. They were responding to a 911 call about shots fired at around 9:15 pm when they encountered a group of men.
Moore, who was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital after he was brought there with a gunshot wound to the chest, was a 10-year veteran of the NYPD, serving in Harlem. Kwo, who was also shot but not hospitalized, had recently returned to active duty following a police academy class and had only been with the department for a year and a half.
Both officers were transported to the hospital after the shooting, where they were admitted. The officers underwent surgery and are recovering. The shootings happened on 191st Street and Prospect Avenue. The wounded officers are recovering in the New York Police Department’s 41st Precinct stationhouse.
As of Sunday afternoon, three hours after the shooting, no arrests had been made.
The first officer to arrive at the scene, a police captain, put his gun down and stood at the scene with his gun drawn, as Moore was being taken out on a stretcher.
A photo of the scene shows that the officers were encountered in a parked SUV, the passengers in which shot at the officers and the officers returned fire, as the dramatic gun battle, which followed an initial 911 call, seemed to unfold in full view of the officers on duty. Moore later died, as did one of the passengers in the car who was struck in the face and arm. The driver remained at the scene, responding to the shooting.
Moore was a five-year veteran of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. He was also a supporter of a grassroots organization called Action 924, a gun-control group founded by Brendan Halloran, a New York City councilman who has become a prominent critic of police-community relations in New York since the death of Eric Garner in 2014. In a statement, NYPPBA president Patrick Lynch added that he knew Moore well and “had the great fortune of knowing him when he joined our organization two years ago.”
Smith wrote this article for the Guardian previously.