2 NYPD officers shot in Queens released from hospital on Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 26, 2020

2 officers shot in Queens released from hospital on Thanksgiving

The officers were greeted with bagpipes and applause from fellow officers.

SPRINGFIELD GARDENS, Queens (WABC) -- Two police officers thankful to have survived a gun battle in Queens were released from the hospital on Thanksgiving morning to bagpipes and the applause of fellow officers.

"There is no surprise here today what we have to be thankful for," Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said after the two officers left Jamaica Hospital.

Officers Joseph Murphy and Christopher Wells were both shot while escorting a domestic violence victim to her Springfield Gardens home Tuesday afternoon.

It happened Tuesday afternoon in Springfield Gardens.

Wells was struck in the right thigh, shattering his femur.

His partner, Murphy, returned fire, killing the suspect. Murphy was struck in both hands, one finger on his left hand was shattered and may require additional surgeries.

Wells wrapped a tourniquet around his leg to stem the blood flow and fellow officers rushed him to Jamaica Hospital, where they have been treated in the same room.

Both officers were rolled out of that hospital this morning and into waiting SUV to take them to their Long Island homes.

They elbow-bumped fellow officers applauding them.

"Thank you," Murphy said as he sat in an SUV, a stream of officers coming up to him. "Love you Joe," one officer said, banging on the door.

The 36-year-old Wells has been a member of the NYPD since 2007. 33-year-old Murphy joined the NYPD in 2015. Both are assigned to the 105th precinct in Queens. Wells lives in Suffolk County and Murphy in Nassau County.

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