Detectives said the 20-year-old gunman, identified Tuesday as Nathan Scott, may have been chasing after two people who attempted to rob him.
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It all unfolded as officers responded to East 57th Street and Remsen Avenue at around 5:50 p.m. Monday.
Four officers in an unmarked car saw Scott chasing a woman and another man. NYPD officials say the suspect fired several shots at the two people.
That's when the officers jumped out of the vehicle and approximately a dozen more shots were fired. The suspect was shot by officers numerous times and pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital.
The two victims who were being chased by the gunman were not injured, but they were taken to a local hospital for observation. Police say one of those two, a 19-year-old man identified as Jeremiah Adams, was wanted for mugging a 17-year-old of his cellphone last month.
A man who did not want to be identified said the two people being chased ran right by him.
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"Someone comes out and starts talking to the gentleman and he says 'they just robbed me, they know me and they robbed me, why would they rob me? They know me,'" the witness said.
Officers also found an innocent bystander, a 60-year-old man, was shot in the abdomen while working on the side of the street. He is stable at the hospital and forensics will determine who fired the bullet that struck him.
Authorities say the unmarked patrol car had bullet holes in the back, but the officers were not injured. A firearm was recovered at the scene.
Police say the gunman had no prior arrests.
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Community activist Tony Herbert spoke out on Tuesday morning, calling on lawmakers to do more.
"I want to speak directly to my colleagues that live here in the city, along with those in Albany," Herbert said. "At the end of the day you have the ability to change this dynamic. All it takes is to change that law. Amend it. Make it 10 years mandatory minimum. No conversation, straight up no pleas, send them straight to jail. We have to incarcerate those individuals that have no respect for the lives of those of us here in the city. Every time we turn around guns are going off because someone thinks that the toughest gun laws don't relate to them."
Adams is charged with shooting an 18-year-old man in the neck and abdomen in a March 7 robbery in Brownsville. He was charged with attempted murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
He is also a suspect in a non-fatal shooting in Queens in 2022.
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