Police were in position on Essex Street in the Brooklyn Thursday after an officer was shot. PHOTO: CRAIG RUTTLE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A New York Police Department officer was shot in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon by a mentally unstable man who later turned the gun on himself, authorities said.
The 30-year-old officer, who had responded to a call about a nonviolent emotionally disturbed person, was taken to Jamaica Hospital and is expected to recover, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press briefing from the hospital. The officer was saved by a bulletproof vest, the mayor said.
The armed 29-year-old man fatally shot himself, authorities said, after holing himself up in a home for more than two hours.
“What could have been just another call turned into something much worse,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the briefing. “Thank god our officer will come through it.”
The mother of the shooter called the police at about 4:35 p.m., saying that her son was in her home, unstable and unarmed, Mr. O’Neill said.
Police were let into the home on Ridgewood Avenue and one officer went to the rear of the apartment with medical officials, Mr. O’Neill said. Another officer was told by the mother that her son “may flee from the backdoor” and went to the back of the building, the commissioner said.
As the officer with the medical officials approached the rear bedroom, “the subject fired several shots, striking the officer several times,” Mr. O’Neill said. “He was struck once in the right arm and twice in the protective vest.”
Mr. O’Neill said the officer, who has been on the force for more than two years, didn’t return fire.
This is the second NYPD officer to be shot in as many months. Officer Miosotis Familia was fatally shot while sitting in a police vehicle in the Bronx by a man who police said had acted paranoid for weeks.
Police responses to calls of nonviolent emotionally disturbed persons have been in the spotlight recently. On July 31, police received such a call from the mother of Dwayne Jeune, 32 years old, in East Flatbush.
Police said Mr. Jeune ran from the back of the apartment armed with a knife and knocked over a police officer before he was shot and killed by another officer.
The father of Mr. Jeune has disputed the police’s narrative and met with acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez on Thursday to discuss the investigation of the incident.
More than 5,650 members of the 36,000-member NYPD have been trained in defusing situations involving the mentally ill since June 2015. Police are now training 100 members a week.
In the Cypress Hills neighborhood on Thursday, dozens of emergency personnel were monitoring the streets. In the vicinity of the shooting, blocks were closed off and helicopters were flying overhead.
Mayborlin Barrios, 29 years old of Cypress Hills, was in nearby Highland Park when the shooting happened Thursday. She said she saw scores of officers and police cars rushing toward Ridgewood Avenue.
“I’m in shock,” Ms. Barrios said. “You never know. If you walk around and see a guy with a [gun] what should I do?”
Bibi Decamp said she would often see the shooter working construction on a home across the street from her home on Linwood Street. She said she knew him since he was a child.
“He just flipped.”