More details now on the shooting of a police officer earlier this morning inside the Seward Park Extension at 64 Essex Street. According to the Daily News, the officer’s life was saved by his bullet proof vest. He is resting at Bellevue Hospital at this hour in stable condition after the incident, which occurred around 3:50 a.m.
There’s an enormous police presence around the public housing complex this morning. Essex between Delancey and Grand is blocked off. Sections of Norfolk and Broome are also closed. Police are searching for a 20-year old black man wearing red shorts. The shooting happened on the 20th floor of the building.
A woman who lives on the 23rd floor said she heard four shots. The resident, identfied only as Evette, said she ran downtstairs because her son had just gone out to get something to eat. “When I got down to the lobby the cop was sitting against the wall with his legs stretched out,” she said. “He was talking. They had already took his shirt off… There were about 12 cops standing around him and the stretcher was already there. I didn’t see no blood. He kept complaining about pain in his side.”
Channel 4 is reporting that the officer was on a routine patrol when the shooting happened. The officer fired at the suspect but it’s unclear whether he was hit. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has already visited the officer at Bellevue.
