Bronx N.Y.P.D. Shootings: 2 Officers Wounded in Targeted Attacks

A gunman went on a rampage against the police in the Bronx, officials said on Sunday, carrying out brazen attacks against officers in a patrol van and a precinct station house that left two wounded and the department shaken.

The police commissioner called one of the shootings an “assassination attempt.” The suspect was arrested at the 41st Precinct station house after he had walked in just before 8 a.m. and began firing, hitting one officer and injuring another, police officials said.

The shooting at the station house, which serves the Hunts Point neighborhood, occurred about 12 hours after an attack on police officers who were sitting in a marked patrol vehicle on Saturday night.

“We are confident that he is the same person who attempted to assassinate our police officers last night,” the commissioner, Dermot F. Shea, said at a news conference on Sunday.

The police said they were questioning a woman in connection to the shootings, but said she was not a suspect.

The injuries to the officers were not life threatening. They were taken to area hospitals for observation.

In the first shooting, the officer, who was not identified, was sitting in the driver’s seat when he was hit in the chin and neck, near the carotid artery, Commissioner Shea said on Saturday night. “It’s a miracle we are not here under worse circumstances,” he said.

The first shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. at Barretto and East 163rd Streets. Two uniformed officers, who were assigned to the 41st Precinct, were in the police van when a man approached and asked for directions, Commissioner Shea said.

“Without provocation, the man pulls out a gun,” he said.

Multiple shots were fired at the van. Officers did not return fire, the commissioner said. The motive for the shooting was unknown.

The commissioner said the officers had been posted in the neighborhood because there had been reports of drug dealing and shootings there recently.

The officer who was shot, an eight-year veteran of the police force, was treated at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, where he remained for observation. The other officer escaped injury.

The commissioner said the unprovoked shooting evoked memories of other attacks on the police over the years, including the killings of two Brooklyn officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. “This harkens back to some very bad times,” he said.

In 2014, the two officers were sitting in their patrol car when they were shot at point-blank range and killed during an ambush. The suspect then turned the gun on himself, dying by suicide, the authorities said.

In 1988, a police officer was shot while he sat alone in his patrol car guarding the home of a man who had testified in a drug case.

On Saturday, the National Fraternal Order of Police, which calls itself the largest police union in the country, denounced the earlier shooting in the Bronx.

“Attacks on law enforcement are becoming more and more prevalent,” the union wrote on Twitter. “Our heroes are finding themselves under fire simply because of the uniform they wear! This madness must stop!”

Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the news conference: “There is just too much hatred out there right now. There is too much hatred in general, and there is too much hatred being directed at our officers.”

Johnny Diaz and Aimee Ortiz contributed reporting.