Man shot while allegedly trying to rob 2 off-duty NYPD officers at Penn Station
The couple the suspect attempted to rob were both off-duty cops, law enforcement officials say
MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- An off-duty officer shot a suspect during an attempted robbery at Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan during the height of rush hour on Wednesday, according to police.
Law enforcement officials say a couple, a husband and wife, were boarding an LIRR train between tracks 18 and 19 around 7 p.m., when the suspect tried to rob the husband, an off-duty NYPD officer.
The suspect wound up in a scuffle with the husband, and that's when police say the wife, also an off-duty NYPD officer, pulled out her gun and shot the suspect in the arm and stomach.
The shooting came as quite a shock for a trainload of commuters bound for Ronkonkoma, who watched stunned, as police tended to the bleeding suspect in the middle of the platform.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is expected to be OK. No one else was injured.
Law enforcement officials say the couple was working at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday and were headed home at the time incident.
Police say it appeared that it may have started on the train and then spilled out on the platform.
Sources told Eyewitness News that the 32-year-old suspect, who lives in a shelter in Brooklyn, has five prior unsealed arrests, mostly for assault and menacing, including one alleged assault that happened just last month.
Police say the suspect did not have a weapon on him but they're looking into whether or not he simulated having one.
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