Repeat offender shot by police after pointing gun at officers
SOUNDVIEW, The Bronx (WABC) -- Officers responding to a large fight in the Bronx shot and wounded a 19-year-old man who pointed his gun at an unmarked police car even before they could get out to defend themselves.
The suspect was shot twice in the leg.
Sources told Eyewitness News that the suspect is a reputed gang member with several prior arrests. Officials say he was arrested and indicted in September for possession of a loaded firearm. Prosecutors requested $25,000 bail, but the suspect got supervised release instead and was back on the street.
"This is the second time this week, we have someone walking around the community of the Bronx, in the Soundview section, with a semi-automatic weapon who was arrested three months ago in the streets of Manhattan and indicted... this probably shouldn't have happened," said NYPD Patrol Bureau Chief John Chell.
The incident happened near a high-rise building located at 755 White Plains Road in Soundview just after 3 p.m.
Police took the suspect into custody and transported him to Jacobi Hospital, where he's expected to be okay.
Meanwhile, police are still looking for a second man who was with the suspect at the time of the incident. He fled on Lafayette Avenue, and was described as wearing grey sweatpants and a white hoodie.
NYPD officials say the suspect did not get off any shots, and no officers were injured.
A gun and two knives were recovered at the scene.
The shooting comes just several days after police confronted a suspect armed with a deadly weapon in Queens on Tuesday night.
The suspect in that incident was involved in two gunpoint robberies before he was shot and killed during a shootout with police.
The day before, a career criminal with mental health problems and two knives, stabbed three innocent people to death in Manhattan.
Police say arrests are up and crime actually is down, but repeat offenders have become the revolving door of justice that's left a trail of carnage across the city.
During a briefing on Friday evening, Chell expressed frustration with the criminal justice system.
"Our criminal justice system needs to be fixed, you saw it this week with the three people stabbed around the street, you saw it in Queens where our cops confronted a career criminal on life-time parole, who just committed two robberies that night, fired at people, citizen gets involved and shoots our officer in the leg," Chell said. "We are very frustrated. We have to fix this."
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