A New York City police officer has died after he was fatally shot while conducting a vehicle stop, authorities said Monday.
A pair of officers stopped a vehicle at 1919 Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway, Queens around 5:48 p.m. as part of the NYPD Community Response Team because it was parked illegally, the NYPD said.
“We lost one of our sons today,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference.
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As a pair of officers were approaching the car, the 34-year-old suspect, who has 21 prior arrests according to the New York Post, displayed a firearm and pointed it at them when he refused to exit the car, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban told reporters.
The suspect then opened fire, striking the officer in the stomach, underneath his bullet-proof vest, authorities said.
“We’re here far too many times,” Caban said.
Another officer returned fire and struck the suspect, who was a passenger in the vehicle. The wounded officer was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The suspected gunman was also taken to a hospital and a gun was recovered at the scene, police said.
The unidentified deceased officer had been with the NYPD for three years and had more than 70 arrests, officials said. After being shot, the suspect dropped the weapon and the officer tried to grab the weapon despite being shot, authorities said.
The gunman was last released from a New York prison in 2021 after serving 5 years behind bars for criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to state records, the Post reported, citing law enforcement sources. His parole in that case ended last year.
He also served a prison term beginning in 2011 over a first-degree assault charge before he was released in 2014, records show.
The driver of the vehicle, a 41-year-old, was arrested in April 2023 on a gun charge, police said.
“Less than a year gun charge,” Adams said. He’s back on the streets. April 2023. This is what you call not a crime problem, a recidivist problem. Same bad people doing bad things to good people. Less than a year, he’s back on the streets with another gun.”
Witness Deon Peters told Fox News Digital that he was working when he heard the sound of gunshots.
“I came outside and I saw two guys on the floor,: he said. “One of them was an officer. he was moving. He was saying ‘I’m hit. I’m hit.'”
