Police say officer, teenage suspect shot and wounded in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer was shot in the leg during a struggle with a teenager who also shot himself in the groin, police said.
The shooting occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Belmont section of the Bronx, police officials said at a news conference at the hospital where both the officer and the teenager were being treated.
A group of six officers patrolling the area approached a “large, disorderly group,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
A 16-year-old in the group put his hands in his pockets and refused orders to take them out, Sewell said.
One of the officers struggled with the teen, and the teen’s gun went off, police said. The same bullet hit the teenage suspect in the groin and the officer in the right leg below the knee, they said.
Both the officer and the teenager were treated at St. Barnabas Hospital. The officer was released from the hospital early Wednesday. Charges against the suspect, whose name was not released, were pending.
Sewell said none of the officers fired a shot.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, said the shooting shows that young people believe they can carry guns on the city’s streets without facing consequences.
“What is it going to take before we realize that we are endangering the lives of children by allowing children to carry guns that they are using on children?” Adams said.
The gun used in the shooting was stolen from South Carolina in 2020, Chief of Detectives James Essig said.