A police detective was shot Tuesday morning while attempting to serve a search warrant on the Lower East Side by a repeat offender on parole, NYPD brass said.
Law enforcement said the department’s Emergency Service Unit attempted to enter an apartment at 384 Madison St., inside the Vladeck Houses public housing complex, at around 5 a.m. on Feb. 18 when 35-year-old Edwin Rivera allegedly opened fire.
“The team gained entry and immediately were fired upon by the perpetrator inside the apartment. The perpetrator fired five to six rounds at our cops, one struck our officer’s ballistic shield, and our officers exercised restraint,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press conference Tuesday morning at Bellevue Hospital. “They did not return fire at that time, and the team tactically repositioned into the hallway. At this point, the perpetrator barricaded himself in the apartment with a couch upright, locking the doorway.”
For the next several hours, cops engaged in a standoff with the barricaded suspect until they again attempted to reenter the home. At approximately 8:18 a.m. officers attempted to bust inside and move the couch, only for Rivera to fire again.
At that point, the detective was struck in the left shoulder. Police said the projectile narrowly missed critical vessels, which could have ended the man’s life.
Cops on scene returned fire, striking Rivera multiple times on the left side of his body, rendering him incapacitated. Both the detective and gunman were rushed to Bellevue Hospital for treatment and are expected to survive their injuries.
Mayor Eric Adams said he visited the wounded detective and his family.
Tisch once again railed against the New York justice system, as the alleged shooter is a career criminal out on parole at the time of the shooting. Police say that Rivera has been arrested multiple times for gun possession and narcotics, and has been on parole four times.
He was last arrested on Nov. 6, 2024 for criminal possession of stolen property and resisting arrest.
“Edwin Rivera is a career criminal, a convicted felon with multiple priors for gun possession and narcotics,” Tisch said. “Although he was on active parole, he was released the very next day. So the real question here is this, why was this individual out of jail and in a position to shoot our officers? How is the system set up to allow one person to commit multiple violent offenses while out on parole with no consequences. I ask our elected officials up in Albany, our DAs, and our judges, what are you doing here? We should never have had to be at that door this morning.”
