The NYPD continues to investigate a Brooklyn police-involved shooting on Friday night in which cops shot and critically wounded an armed suspect who pointed a firearm at them.
Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera outlined the preliminary details regarding the shooting, which unfolded just after 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 10 in the area of East 80th Street and Flatlands Avenue in Canarsie. The entire incident, he said, was captured via bodycams worn by the officers and security camera footage from the scene.
Rivera said that uniformed officers from the 69th Precinct, while riding in two unmarked vehicles through the area, heard a gunshot in the vicinity. Seconds later, they spotted the suspect — identified only as a 50-year-old man — exit a convenience store at 776 East 80th St.
The chief reported that the suspect began running northbound on East 80th Street. Two officers exited their vehicles to pursue the suspect on foot, while the other officers followed in their vehicles.
“The officers verbally identified themselves and gave the male numerous verbal commands, to which he did not comply,” Rivera said during a press conference at the 69th Precinct early on Saturday morning. “The male then ran behind a tree and pointed his firearm at a uniformed sergeant.”
Rivera said four officers, in all, then fired their weapons multiple times at the suspect, striking him in the torso. The officers rendered medical aid to the man while taking him into custody.
EMS responded and rushed the suspect to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.
Police recovered both the firearm the suspect allegedly pointed at the sergeant, as well as a ghost gun the male allegedly had and dropped inside the convenience store, Rivera said.
The officers involved in the shooting were medically evaluated at a local hospital. No other injuries were reported.
Rivera credited the officers for their quick action in stopping a suspect who could have seriously harmed the community.
“Once again, our officers confronted a dangerous individual armed with a firearm and reacted without hesitation,” the chief said. “Due to their actions, further violence was prevented.”
The case was presented to the NYPD Force Investigation Division, which examines all police-involved shootings.
Assistant Chief Charles McEvoy, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, noted that the incident does not appear to be connected to the shooting of a 57-year-old woman in Canarsie earlier on Friday.
In that incident, law enforcement sources said, the victim was shot in the thigh near the Flatlands Farms supermarket at 8101 Flatlands Ave. at about 5:45 p.m. on Jan. 10. EMS rushed her to a local hospital for treatment of an injury not considered life-threatening.
Police are said to be looking for a suspect described as a man with a dark complexion wearing a ski mask who was last seen fleeing southbound along East 81st Street. So far, no arrests have been made in the case.
With reporting by Lloyd Mitchell
