NYPD: Searching for clues in Bronx shooting of off-duty cop

NYPD officers in the Bronx scoured a street in the Mott Haven section for clues in the Tuesday morning shooting of an off-duty NYPD officer caught in a gang crossfire, officials said.

The NYPD didn't identify the officer. He was driving home along West 137th Street shortly after midnight when a bullet fired as two groups exchanged gunshots hit him in the right shoulder, said Police Commissioner James O’Neill at a news briefing with reporters.

“Fortunately our officer is going to be OK,” said O’Neill, who called the shooting “brazen.”

According to Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea, a total of 14 shots were fired — none by the off-duty officer — with four vehicles being hit and at least one round going through the window of a residence near the location of the shooting at 456 E. 137th St.  The officer was treated and released, police said.

Detectives were seeking surveillance videos and talking to witnesses in the neighborhood, which is in the 40th Precinct, one of the more violence-prone areas of the city this year. Homicides have increased 60 percent, from four to eight, in 2018 over last year while shootings in the precinct's patrol area have jumped more than 40 percent from 22 in 2017 to 31, according to police statistics.

O’Neill said that while the city overall has seen 36 fewer shootings this year than in 2017, the Bronx violence Tuesday drew his condemnation.

“Our  progress in the city means nothing if some portion of the population … walks our streets with impunity, shooting guns with complete disregard for fellow New Yorkers. All 8.6 million people in this city should be as outraged as I am” O'Neill said.

Investigators were trying to determine which warring gang factions were involved in the shooting. 

Shea said that a $12,500 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest in the case. He asked anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.