NYPD cop shot in arm during clash in Bronx, 16-year-old shooter arrested

An NYPD cop was shot in the arm by a Bronx shooter who opened fire on the unmarked officer’s car early Tuesday morning, police said.

The officer and his partner were patrolling in uniform when they spotted two men at the corner of E. 183rd Street and Prospect Avenue in Belmont around 3 a.m.

Police officers, part of the 48th Precinct Public Safety Team, stopped to talk to the duo when one of them drew a gun and started firing, NYPD Chief James Essig said.

“At least one man fired six shots, hitting the windshield and a policeman in the passenger seat,” Essig said.

The wounded police officer, identified as Officer Li, and his partner returned fire.

Lee began to chase the fleeing couple, but was dragged back into the car by his partner and taken to St. Barnabas’s hospital.

“Officer Lee is going home,” Mayor Adams said at a press conference at the hospital. “Too many innocent people do not return home after the use of firearms.”

A 16-year-old teenager was arrested on the spot, but it was not immediately clear whether he had fired at the police. A .32 caliber handgun was seized at the scene. A criminal case has been initiated against the teenager.

“While attempting to attack two men on a corner, one officer was shot in the arm, narrowly missing his vitals,” Police Commissioner Kichant Sewell said. “Let me be clear: we will stop at nothing to ensure that these actors involved in this shooting and the people who are fueling the violence in this city are held accountable.”

Moments later, three shots rang out at E. 183rd St., about 100 feet from where the first shooting took place, but the shots were unlikely to have been directed towards the pursuing officers, Essig said.

Police are investigating the possibility that the second shooter shot the first.

Pat Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said Officer Lee and his partner were “calm and professional” in the ensuing chaos.

“The partner (Lee) pursued the perpetrator, admitted that his partner was shot, throws him in the car, drives him, passes descriptions, notifies the hospital,” Lynch said. “If he could, when he got to the hospital, he probably would have had the surgery too.”

Police say the young man who was with the 16-year-old and the young man who fired the second shot are still being sought.

Lee is the first NYC cop to be shot dead this year. Ten NYPD officers were shot and killed last year, including Officers Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera, both killed by a deranged gunman while reacting to a family dispute in Harlem.

This weekend, the NYPD will commemorate the anniversary of Mora and Rivera’s death.

On New Year’s Eve, lone jihadist Trevor Bickford attacked two officers with a machete near Times Square, crushing the rookie’s skull before being shot and wounded by cops. Bickford is now facing federal terrorism charges.

The Public Safety Group replaced the controversial plainclothes crime-fighting unit that then Police Commissioner Dermot Shea disbanded in June 2020 after it was involved in a series of shootings. A number of its employees have been involved in lawsuits or complaints have been filed against them.

The officers in the team are uniformed but drive unmarked cars. According to Adams, the main task of the team is to remove weapons from the streets.

“This officer was doing his job,” the mayor said. “(He’s) part of an important team that has been assembled to get guns off our streets.”

The shooting and the arrest, according to Adams, “clearly highlights that too many young people are holding too many guns.”

“Our job is to create a way to stop this,” Adams said.

Following an uptick in violence during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the city’s homicide rate is down 11% and shootings are down 17% compared to 2021.

As of Sunday this year, there were 70 shootings in the city, down 14 from this time last year.