Two N.Y.P.D. Officers Are Shot in Gun Battle in the Bronx

Two New York City police officers responding to a report of a man with a gun were shot in the Bronx during a gun battle with the man seconds after they had approached him on a building stoop on Wednesday night, according to the police.

One of the officers, Alejandra Jacobs, was released from St. Barnabas Hospital on Thursday, greeted by bagpipes and applause from colleagues including the Police Department’s top uniformed official. Her partner, Robert Holmes, was continuing to receive treatment there along with the man they had approached, Charlie Vasquez, who was shot three times and is expected to survive, the police said.

Officer Jacobs, who has been on the force for a year, was shot twice in the upper right arm and fired five shots back, striking Mr. Vasquez, Dermot F. Shea, the New York police commissioner, said at a news conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio at the hospital late Wednesday.

Officer Holmes, who has been on the force for eight years and was shot in the armpit as he wrestled with the gunman, was expected to stay in the hospital for a couple more days, Commissioner Shea added on Thursday during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Officer Holmes was in stable condition.

Mr. Vasquez, 23, of Brooklyn, remained in the hospital on Thursday and had not been charged. He was in serious condition after undergoing surgery.

The police said his criminal record included nine prior arrests for offenses including robbery, theft and, most recently in 2017, carrying a loaded gun. The dispositions of those cases were not immediately available on Thursday.

Commissioner Shea, at the hospital, described Mr. Vasquez as a “career criminal with far too many arrests, still on the streets of New York City.” He said Mr. Vasquez’s gun had been reported stolen in Georgia last year.

“We are very lucky tonight,” Commissioner Shea said, adding that the officers were in good spirits. He said the shooting had been captured on body camera video, but the footage was not released.

Mr. de Blasio said the officers had showed “incredible bravery” and added that there are “too many guns out there.”

“It’s another example of a gun from out of state, comes into our city, hurts a New Yorker,” Mr. de Blasio said. “This is something we’ve got to deal with in a whole different way.”

The shooting, shortly after 8 p.m., began after a call to 911 reported a man with a gun at a building on Beaumont Avenue, in the Belmont section of the Bronx, Commissioner Shea said. The two officers walked up to a man who was sitting on the stoop and who matched the description provided to the police, Commissioner Shea said.

When Officer Holmes asked the man to take his hands out of his pockets, the man stood up, pulled out a gun and opened fire, Commissioner Shea said.

“Within seconds, they are in a gun battle,” he said. As Officer Jacobs was shot in the arm and fired five shots back, her partner wrestled with the gunman, Commissioner Shea said.

Part of the encounter was captured on surveillance video posted to Twitter overnight that left unclear whether Officer Holmes had been shot by the gunman or by his partner. The police department’s Force Investigation Division was reviewing the incident, officials said.

The 30-second video, recorded by an overhead surveillance camera, shows the officers approaching the man as he sits on a stoop enclosed by a metal gate. A scuffle ensues when Officer Holmes enters the gate and grabs the man’s left arm. A white streak whizzes toward Officer Jacobs as she draws her gun, and she quickly returns fire at the man.

She and Mr. Vasquez continue exchanging gunfire before he moves out of the camera’s view while struggling with Officer Holmes. Officer Jacobs, who remains in the frame, then fires another round.

Malik Alsaedi, 34, the manager of 7 Days & Nights Deli on 187th Street near the corner of Crotona Avenue, said he had been behind the cashier’s desk at around 8 p.m. when he heard gunshots ring out.

He dashed out the door, looked down the block toward Beaumont Avenue and saw police officers running toward the source of the sound.

“When I heard the shots, I didn’t think they were that close,” Mr. Alsaedi said. “I didn’t think they were a block away. But when I walked outside, that’s when I realized it was something serious.”
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