Bronx police shootings: Two NYPD officers shot in less than 12 hours

The commissioner called the gunman a “coward.”

“For the second time in less than 12 hours, members of the New York City police department have been targeted specifically and shot in attempts to murder the very people who work so hard day and night to keep the people of this city safe,” Shea said.

The first attack took place at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, when a man shot into a marked police van in the 41st precinct, striking an officer in the chin and neck with bullets that narrowly missed his carotid artery, authorities said.

The second shooting occurred just before 8 a.m. at the headquarters of the 41st precinct. A male lieutenant with about 15 years on the force was struck in the arm.

Both officers, who have not been named, were treated at Lincoln Hospital and are in stable condition.

Police and city officials said at the Sunday news conference that they believe the shootings are connected and that the man apprehended at the precinct Sunday morning is the same person who shot at the police van.

According to surveillance footage from inside the precinct and witness accounts, the gunman walked into the Bronx precinct station and “immediately” pulled out a gun, Shea said. He fired multiple rounds toward a desk area staffed by uniformed officers. The gunman then walked to an area beside the desk and fired several more rounds at “point blank range” at more uniformed officers and a civilian member of the NYPD, though nobody was injured.

Surveillance footage posted on social media shows an officer ducking for cover. Seconds later, a man is seen falling to the ground. A handgun slides across the floor, then officers swarm him.

“I will point out that this coward immediately laid down, but only after he ran out of bullets,” Shea said.

Police recovered a 9 mm Sig Sauer and are working to determine whether it was the same gun used in Saturday night’s shooting.

At the news conference, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the attacks.

“This was an attempt to assassinate police officers. We need to use that word because it 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,” the mayor said.

New York City, he said, is a “place where everyone can live in peace and decency and mutual respect.”

“This individual attempted to destroy that,” de Blasio said. “Thank God he was stopped by our men and women in uniform.”

The mayor had previously said that the attacks were an attempt to “divide our city.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement he was “horrified” by the two attacks.

“NY’s law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. These attacks are heinous,” Cuomo said on Twitter. “Those responsible will be brought to justice & held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

President Trump on Sunday morning used the targeted shootings to attack de Blasio and Cuomo, both Democrats and critics of Trump.

“I grew up in New York City and, over many years, got to watch how GREAT NYC’s ‘Finest’ are,” Trump said in 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!”

Cuomo’s communications director, Dani Lever, later hit back. “We‘d think politicizing police shootings would be beyond the pale even for @realDonaldTrump, but apparently there’s nothing too low for him,” she wrote on Twitter.

At a late-night news conference after the first shooting Saturday, Shea said the attack was a grim reminder of other shootings in the city’s history where officers did not survive.

Shea said that the officer injured Saturday night was sitting in the driver’s seat of a marked patrol van with its emergency lights on when a man who appeared to be in his 20s or 30s approached and asked for directions.

“Without provocation, the man pulls out a gun,” Shea said at the news conference.

The man fired off several shots. The injured officer’s partner of eight years and friend since middle school was not hit, Shea said. The men had been assigned to the area after a recent shooting and reports of drug activity.

At the news conference, de Blasio said there is “too much hatred out there right now.”

“Out in the open, an individual walked up to a police van with the intention of killing police officers,” de Blasio said. “This is absolutely unacceptable in this city or any place in this county.”