A NYPD officer narrowly escapes serious injury from an armed teenager when bullets were fired but only grazed a police officer's head Thursday night during a harrowing shootout at a Bronx apartment, officials said.
The confrontation broke out at 1015 E. Gun Hill Road. Around 10 p.m., officials said. The officer was urgently sent to Jacobi was in stable condition.
The suspect, Antonio Morales, 18, of the Bronx, is in custody, officials said.
According to police, two police officers responded to a call about a woman being robbed in the building. But when officers arrived at the back of the first floor of the building, a confrontation quickly erupted.
“The officer said the detective was shot inside the building while answering a call,” tenant Josiah Bermudez, 25, told the Daily News. “The shooter was also shot.”
Bermudez added that the confrontation took place in the back of the first floor, adding that he and his wife heard gunshots.
“Most of the calls from the building are for domestic disputes,” he said. “So it's confusing and scary that this is happening here.”
A police source said the clash quickly spread into the hallway.
“There were shots fired inside the apartment,” the source said, noting that the shooter was also wounded inside the first-floor apartment and in the hallway.
“The criminal fired,” the source said. “He was shot in the leg and arm… There was a struggle and the officer suffered a head injury. We are still trying to determine the source of that injury.”
A woman who lives in the building and said she is a mental health counselor said the encounter was unsettling.
“There was a lot of screaming, fighting and then shooting,” said the woman, who gave her name as 23-year-old Angela. “There was a lot of blood at the elevator. I'm scared and thank God my son didn't notice.”
This is a developing story; stay tuned.
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