NYPD: Officer shot, wounded in 'assassination attempt'

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Two New York City police officers narrowly escaped with their lives when a gunman fired into their patrol van Saturday night, wounding one of them in an attack officials called an attempted assassination.

The ambush, which Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said “should outrage all New Yorkers,” happened just before 8:30 pm in the South Bronx.

The officer at the wheel of the van was grazed in the chin and neck, but he avoided serious injury, Shea said. He was expected to released from the hospital Sunday.

“He is lucky to be alive," Shea said. “He is expected to make a full recovery and it is a miracle.”

The two uniformed officers, partners for eight years and friends since middle school, were sitting in their van with emergency lights activated when a man approached them and engaged them in conversation, Shea said.

The man asked the officers for directions, then pulled out a gun “without provocation,” the commissioner said. The man fired multiple shots, striking the officer behind the wheel. Shea said the officer's carotid artery narrowly avoided injury.

Neither officer returned fire. The officer's partner drove him to a hospital nearby. Shea called both officers “heroic” for their composure and said their long association made for “an amazing story.”

Officers had a basic description of the gunman, who fled after the shooting, but his identity was unknown. Security video that appeared to capture the shooting shows the van driving quickly away as a man appeared to point something at the fleeing vehicle.

The officers had been stationed in the neighborhood because of recent drug activity and violence, Shea said.

I hope they find that sonafabitch soon.

I’m glad for the excellent fortune of the police officer.

Even if they found the perp wouldn't they be let out on no bail (NY)?

A New York City police lieutenant was shot in the arm Sunday morning after an armed suspect opened fire inside a Bronx precinct about 12 hours after another officer was shot in the head while on patrol nearby, police authorities said.

The 8 a.m. incident took place in the 41st Precinct in the Longwood neighborhood of the Bronx, where the suspect walked in and began firing at the front desk, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news conference later in the day.

Police sources tell ABC News the suspect is Robert Williams and that he is also the suspect in the shooting of an officer in a police vehicle that took place Saturday night.

This was a premeditated effort to kill -- and not just to kill other human beings, but to kill those who wear a uniform that represents all of us," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the news conference,

The suspect hit a lieutenant in the arm and the officer returned a shot but missed, Shea said.

The suspect then allegedly went into another room and fired at uniformed officers and a civilian worker, before he was stopped and apprehended by officers, according to Shea. The entire Sunday incident was captured on surveillance video, according to the mayor.

"This coward immediately laid down, but only after he ran out of bullets," the commissioner said.

The lieutenant, who has not been identified but is a 15-year veteran of the force, was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, and his injuries aren't life-threatening, according to police.

Shea said an investigation is ongoing, but the suspect has a violent criminal past. He said the suspect was arrested in 2002 and convicted for attempted murder in an incident where he shot at a person, carjacked a woman and then got into a shootout with police. The suspect was paroled in 2017, according to Shea.

On Saturday night, police say, the suspect walked up to officers who were in a marked police van and asked for directions before opening fire. The officer wounded in that attack yelled once he saw the gun and put the police car into drive but was struck by a bullet in the neck and chin during the commotion. Officers were not able to return fire during the incident.

The officer's partner then immediately drove the injured man to Lincoln Hospital. The officer has not yet been publicly identified, but authorities have confirmed he is an 8-year veteran assigned to the 41st Precinct and that he has known his partner since they were in middle school.

The officer hurt in the Saturday incident was released from the hospital Sunday to a crowd of cheering officers. Shea said he was grateful that none of the officers were killed during both incidents.

The commissioner noted a rise in anti-police sentiment across the city, citing last week's subway protests against the NYPD and MTA and likened it to the protests that took place in 2014 before officers Wenjian Liu and Raphael Ramos were assassinated.

"Words matter. Words affect people's behavior," Shea said.

Mayor de Blasio echoed the commissioner's sentiments and called on New Yorkers to respect officers.

Patrick Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents cops, said in a statement he has been warning about this type attack for years and called on elected officials to "fix the deteriorating environment on our streets."

"The hatred and violence directed at cops continues to grow. Good luck and kind words are not enough to keep police officers or the public safe," he said.

President Donald Trump also weighed in on the shooting with a tweet.

"Now, because of weak leadership at Governor & Mayor, stand away (water thrown at them) regulations, and lack of support, our wonderful NYC police are under assault. Stop this now!" he wrote.