Police closed off the quiet Port Richmond neighborhood, setting up crime scene tape, hovering in a helicopter and going door-to-door, searching for three suspects.
As paramedics rushed the off-duty police officer to Richmond University Medical Center, his brother jumped into a police cruiser and helped look for his shooter.
With his help, police caught one suspect at a nearby apartment complex.
It was a sight neighbors won't soon forget.
"It's surprising," neighbor Patty McCab said. "It's usually quiet around here. It's shocking."
Detectives say that around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, officer Damion Lawrence, his half brother and another man were in a white Honda when three men approached them.
The suspects tried to rob the rookie cop, police said, and in the middle of the scuffle, a gun was fired.
Lawrence was shot twice in the right leg.
Most neighbors didn't hear the shots, but heard panicked calls for help.
"They was banging on the doors," neighbor Augustus Abbott said. "I guess they were looking for people. To see if anybody saw anything."
Investigators say Lawrence had visited relatives on Trentor Place. The officer lives in a basement apartment in East Flatbush and just started working at 68th Precinct in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Police are still piecing the incident together, but say they haven't found Lawrence's gun.
Lawrence will undergo surgery for the gunshot wounds. He is in stable condition.
---
STORY BY: Eyewitness News reporter Carolina Leid
WEB PRODUCED BY: Bill King
----
Click here for more New York and Tri-State News
