The crime scene where NYPD officers exchanged gunfire with a suspect. Screen grab from YouTube.
New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea announced that an officer from the gun violence suppression unit is hospitalized after getting shot near Lafayette Avenue and White Plains Road in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
ABC7 Eyewitness News reported that Officer Daniel Vargas and three of his fellow officers in plainclothes were driving in an unmarked car when they saw a 24-year-old male known to them and initiated a stop. According to ABC7, officers wanted to speak with the male, identified as Ajani Jones, about a shooting involving his brother.
Shea said during a Wednesday press conference that within seconds of the officers making contact with the suspect, a gunfight ensued, but he did not clarify who shot first.
This is the firearm the suspect had in his possession when our officers engaged with him. pic.twitter.com/MpVrXWMmwH
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) January 27, 2021
“In the course of seconds, what we know is that our officer we believe fired one round,” Shea said. “We believe the perpetrator fired four rounds.”
Vargas, a 31-year-old officer with six and half years at the NYPD, was hit below his ballistic vest in the lower back and is in stable condition. Shea said that the officer “is in a lot of pain,” but they are expecting him to make a full recovery.
Shea said the male suspect has several arrests in New York City and a criminal record in New Jersey.
Joshua Skovlund is a former staff writer for Coffee or Die. He covered the 75th anniversary of D-Day in France, multinational military exercises in Germany, and civil unrest during the 2020 riots in Minneapolis. Born and raised in small-town South Dakota, he grew up playing football and soccer before serving as a forward observer in the US Army. After leaving the service, he worked as a personal trainer while earning his paramedic license. After five years as in paramedicine, he transitioned to a career in multimedia journalism. Joshua is married with two children.
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