BROOKLYN MAN INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF NYPD OFFICERS

Gunfight At Midday On Election Day, A Half-Block From School Polling Place 

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Brooklyn man has been charged with Attempted Murder and 11 other crimes for shooting at police who were responding to a robbery he and an accomplice had just committed. 

  District Attorney Clark said, “This defendant opened fire on a police officer and a sergeant who were responding to a victim’s cry for help. He fired seven rounds and they returned nine shots. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, despite the gun battle taking place just a half-block away from a high school where people were voting on Election Day. Anyone who puts our police officers in jeopardy will face the fullest extent of the law.” 

   District Attorney Clark said that Zachary Irizarry, 19, of Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, has been charged with first and second-degree Attempted Murder, first, second and third-degree Robbery, second and fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon, first-degree Attempted Assault, first and second-degree Reckless Endangerment, first-degree Criminal Use of a Firearm, second-degree Obstructing Governmental Administration, Resisting Arrest, first degree Burglary, fifth-degree Attempted Criminal Possession of Marijuana, seventh-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Unlawful Possession of Marijuana. He was arraigned today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice William Mogulescu. He was remanded and is due back on January 17, 2017.

   A second defendant, Jordan DeJesus of East 169th Street, the Bronx, was arraigned on the Robbery, Criminal Possession of a Weapon and Attempted Criminal Possession of Marijuana charges in the indictment on December 6, 2016. He was released on $25,000 bail. 

   According to the investigation, on November 8, 2016 at about 1 p.m. in front of 862 East 164th Street, a half-block from Bronx Regional High School on Rev. James A. Polite Avenue, NYPD Sergeant Michael Bletcher and Police Officer Juan Candelario saw a man run out of the building and heard him shout, “He’s got a gun.”

   Irizarry, who with DeJesus had allegedly just robbed the victim during a marijuana deal, fired several rounds at the officers, who were in plainclothes but had their police shields displayed. The officers fired nine rounds and Irizarry fled down the block. 

   The officers pursued him and he broke into a private house on 165th Street. Irizarry was arrested and his gun was recovered behind a washing machine in the house.

   The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Joseph Marciano and Kiran Rosenkilde of the Public Integrity Bureau, and Omer Wiczyk, Deputy Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Wanda Perez-Maldonado, Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, and the overall supervision of Stuart Levy, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division, and Jean T. Walsh, Chief of the Investigations Division. 

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.