What to Know
- A police officer was shot in the wrist on Staten Island but she is expected to be OK; a 39-year-old suspect was killed
- Officers were following up on a domestic violence call near Prince Street early Tuesday; they tried to arrest the suspect, who resisted
- At one point, a cop tried to use a stun gun to subdue the suspect and he pulled out a gun; two shots were fired. Officers returned fire
A police officer was shot in the wrist when she responded to a domestic violence call on Staten Island Tuesday, but she is expected to be OK, authorities said.
The suspect, who was also shot, is dead, officials said at a news briefing.
The shot officer and her partner were checking out a call from a woman who had filed a domestic violence report a day earlier. They met her outside the home on Prince Street shortly before 9 a.m. and she was able to point out her attacker. The two cops dropped her off about a block away to keep her safe, called for backup and went back to the scene to try to take the suspect into custody.
Two more officers arrived and the four tried to arrest the suspect, but NYPD Police Commissioner James O'Neill said the suspect, a 39-year-old with a history of violent crimes including domestic assault and a shooting conviction, resisted. A struggle ensued; one of the cops tried to use a stun gun on the suspect's back, at which point the suspect pulled out a gun, O'Neill said. The officers tried to direct the muzzle of the weapon away as the suspect discharged two rounds.
Officers returned fire, shooting three rounds, O'Neill said. The cop who was shot was hit in the left hand, though it wasn't clear if the bullet was from the suspect's gun or from the officers' weapons. The suspect's gun was recovered at the scene. Neither his name, nor the name of the shot officer, who was undergoing surgery on her hand later Tuesday, was immediately released.
No other officers were hurt. The suspect's gun was recovered at the scene.
The shot cop is 30 and joined the department in January 2016. Mayor de Blasio and O'Neill spoke to reporters at the hospital after their visit with her -- and praised what they described as her exemplary behavior and heroism.
De Blasio said the cop is a prime example of the American Dream; she came to the United States when she was young and always wanted to be a police officer, he said her family told him.
"That was her life's goal," he added. "She has applied herself with all her heart to this work, protecting others, and she is quite a hero."
