Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner O’Neill and I have just visited our very brave officer. We’re not going to be giving you the name right now, but I want to just tell you some very basic points – young officer, two years on the job, did what our officers do every single day – responded to a call, in this case for someone acting erratically – an emotionally disturbed person. What could have been just another day, just another call turned into something much worse, and thank God our officer is going to come through it. He’s a brave young man. He had a great attitude. He was actually trying to even make light of the situation in his own hospital bed, showing a lot of spirit, a lot of energy. His partner was really, really worried about him. We spent time with his partner as well. All he wanted to know was how his fellow officer was doing. But this is an example of the bravery of the men and women of the NYPD. This is an example of the fact that our officers go into any situation and never know how it might turn on a moment’s notice. But thank God our officer is going to come through okay in this case.
I want to thank everyone at the 7-5 Precinct, all of his fellow officers who quickly rushed to his aid – everyone at EMS. It’s important to not – and I know the Commissioner will go into detail – this young man was definitely saved by his vest. It made all of the difference here that he was wearing a vest that stopped some of these shots and protected his life. In fact, I think they’re going to show us the vest right now.
Commissioner O’Neill: It’s a small caliber round, so you’re not going to be able to see where the impact was, but I did see the blunt force trauma and injuries on the officer’s chest. This vest definitely saved his life.
Mayor: And this is something important – that the right protective gear made all the difference. I want to thank everyone at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. They have been outstanding in their response. We appreciate very much everything they've been doing. I want to thank our Public Advocate Tish James and the acting District Attorney of Brooklyn, Eric Gonzalez, for being here with us in support. So – a day where the Commissioner and I were in a meeting when we both heard about this. We immediately of course worried about what this could mean for our officer, but, thank God, the news today is a lot better than it might have been.
Commissioner O’Neill: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So, at approximately 4:35 pm this afternoon, uniformed police officers from the 7-5 Precinct responded to a 9-1-1 call for an emotionally disturbed person at a private house located at 149 Ridgewood Avenue in Brooklyn – that’s in the 7-5 Precinct. The caller reported that her 29-year-old son was not violent and reported to be unarmed and present with her in the home. The first responding radio car team was admitted into the residence, along with EMS personnel. One officer approached the rear of the apartment, along with EMS personnel. Another officer went to the rear of the building after being told by the mother that her son may try to flee through a backdoor. As the first officer approached the rear bedroom, the subject fired several shots, striking the officer several times. He was struck once in the right arm and twice in the protective vest. The officer did not return fire. The injured officer, who is 30-years-old, has been on the force for just over two years, was treated by EMS on the scene, and moved here to Jamaica Hospital where he’s alert and in state condition. And the Mayor spoke about our conversation with him – a brave young man.
Immediately after the shooting, the 29-year-old subject remained in the rear bedroom. And we just got an update from the scene that ESU – Emergency Services – did make entry into the apartment, into the bedroom where they discovered the subject was diseased with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, and two guns were recovered by his side.
I also wanted to thank the responding EMS technicians and the medical staff here at Jamaica Hospital not only for today, but for every time we come here – the absolute professional way that they treat us. And I’d really like to thank Jamaica Hospital for all of that.
So, police officers, once again, doing their job, called to the scene, and thank goodness the officer’s going to be fine. His recovery might take a while, but I saw the injuries, spoke to him, spoke to his partner, and they’re going to be fine – might take a little time though.
We’re going to get an update from the scene – just ended a short time ago. DCPI will have the information and we’ll be able to get you some more details about what transpired, alright? Thank you very much, everyone.
Mayor: Thanks, everyone.
