Shooter On The Run After Wounding NYPD Officer In ‘Assassination Attempt’
NEW YORK (CNN) — A man in a black puffer jacket opened fire on a police officer sitting in a van in New York City in what the mayor called an “assassination attempt.”
The offiver was wounded and is expected to survive, CNN affiliate NY1 reported. A second officer was not hit.
Both officers were sitting in a van in the Bronx on Saturday night when someone came up to them and asked a question, a law enforcement official said. When an officer answered, the shooter opened fire, striking one near the jaw.
The shooter is still at large and Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of $12,500 for information on his whereabouts.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the officer in the driver’s sear yelled, ‘Gun!’ when the shooter pulled out a weapon without provocation.
“What we know is that multiple shots were fired by the perpetrator at close proximity into the van,” he said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized what he called a “blind hatred” toward officers, saying he’s grateful they were not seriously injured.
“Tonight we saw a heinous assassination attempt against NYPD officers in a marked police van,” de Blasio said. “Thank God we can report our officers survived and will be able to go home to their families safe and sound… We will stop at nothing to find the perpetrator and bring him to justice.”
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