The alleged teenage gunman who police said shot a tourist in the leg and fired at an NYPD officer after a botched shoplifting at a Times Square sporting goods store Thursday was arrested in Yonkers, according to six law enforcement officials.
A U.S. Marshals regional task force made the arrest Friday afternoon, according to multiple law enforcement sources, after descending on a house on Saratoga Avenue, near the Bronx border. The 15-year-old was taken into custody without incident. Police had been offering a $13,500 reward for information relating to the suspect's "attempted murder of an NYC police officer," according to the reward poster.
Police said the alleged shooter is from Venezuela and arrived in New York City less than six months ago. He has been living in a shelter on the Upper West Side. Detectives are investigating whether he is the same teen wanted in two other crimes, including a Bronx armed robbery on Jan. 27 and in a shots-fired case near a Midtown park.
Detectives believe the suspect had a potential family connection in Yonkers, but an investigation is ongoing. A senior police official told NBC New York that the suspect's mother was with him when he was arrested, and he was crying as police took him away.
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"If you think you can attack a member of the NYPD and get away with it, think again. We will never stop pursuing. We will find you and we will arrest you. Then we will do everything in our power to bring you to justice," said NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, noting that the arrest came after police spoke to hundreds of people, obtaining video and "pristine" photos of the suspects.
Given his age, it was not immediately clear if he would be taken to criminal court or to family court, a senior police official said.
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The Times Square incident began just after 7 p.m. at a store near Broadway and West 41st Street in Midtown, a police official told NBC New York. At least two individuals went inside the JD Sports sporting goods store on Broadway and went upstairs. They started shoving clothes into a shopping bag before they went back downstairs, police said.
A loss prevention officer went up to the pair and asked for a receipt, then took the bag from them when they didn't have one. As the guard was talking with them, one of the two, wearing all white, pulled out a .45-caliber handgun and fired, according to police.
The bullets missed the security officer, but struck a Brazilian tourist in the leg above the knee, the source said. The victim, a 37-year-old woman shopping at the store, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was expected to recover.
The duo took off, ending up at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue where two officers spotted them. One of the individuals was apprehended, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said, while the other fled toward Sixth Avenue. The first individual was later released, law enforcement sources said Friday.
Midway down that block, the second suspect went into a cutout between two buildings, including the Fox Corporation headquarters, then turned and fired one shot at the officer giving chase. As he continued to run, he fired again at the officer from under his arm. The officer did not return fire either time.
The area was too crowded for police to fire at the suspect and they would have risked hitting bystanders, Chell said.
Police said the suspected gunman dumped his white jacket, which could be seen lying Thursday night on a shutdown Sixth Avenue.
The suspect ran into the Rockefeller Center subway at 46th Street and Sixth Avenue and went onto the tracks. He later left the station, but police did not know where he went after that.
"He's 15 years old, he is in possession of .40-caliber handgun that he had no problems firing into a crowd of the store, striking a tourist, not shooting at cops once, shooting at them twice," Chell said. "I got to tell you, one of those bullets hits our cop last night, this is a whole different conversation we're having today."
No injuries to the officers were reported.
The shooting victim, Tatiele Ribeiro Lemos, 38, is from Brazil and now in a New York City hotel recovering from her gunshot wound.
"I believe this was just an unfortunate incident, it could have happened anywhere in the world," she told NBC New York's Gaby Acevedo.
This was her third time visiting New York and she went inside JD Sports to buy tennis shoes as gifts. Tatiele said she was standing by the cashier with her merchandise close to the exit, focused on her phone and texting her husband, when she heard a loud bang.
"I felt a lot of pain, but didn't know where the pain was coming from," she said. "It was a scary moment. I started checking myself then looked at my leg and saw blood dripping down, but I was able to stay calm." She said she was able to drag herself to safety in the back of the store and didn't realize she had be struck by a bullet until she was at the hospital, where she received 13 stitches.
A large swath of midtown streets were closed for hours amid the chaos, with police telling people to avoid the area between 47th and 51st street along 6th Avenue for much of Thursday evening. Sixth Avenue did not reopen until after 10 p.m. The department also said a police presence could be expected in Times Square, and traffic delays were likely.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
