ARRESTED: Cop Shooters Found, Update To NYPD Bronx Shooting

UPDATED STORY: As reported by Yahoo News Canada, police arrested two people Tuesday in the shooting of two New York City plainclothes police officers responding to a grocery store robbery.

Approximately 12 hours after the incident, one suspect was captured Tuesday while his accomplice turned up at a hospital with a gunshot wound in his arm and staff notified police.

Charges against the pair are pending.

Previously, on Monday night, two plainclothes New York Police Officers were shot and wounded in the Bronx while responding to report of a robbery.

The officers responded to call on East 184th street in the Tremont section of the Bronx. The shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. as the officers spotted two possible suspects, one outside a Chinese restaurant and one inside.

Five officers were on the scene and were part of an anti-crime unit. Police Commissioner William Bratton said that the officers were exiting the vehicle when one of the suspects inside the restaurant opened fire. The officers returned fire and the two suspects, believed to be Hispanic males in their 20’s, fled the scene by carjacking a vehicle with two women inside. The car was later found abandoned and a weapon was also retrieved.

The Associated Press reports that a 30-year-old officer was shot in his left arm and lower back and a 38-year-old was hit in his left arm and chest. They were not identified. The officers were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, where both are in critical but stable condition.

There are no further details concerning the women at this time.

ABC reports that Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke concerning the wounded officers at a news conference early Tuesday.

“They went above and beyond the call to protect their fellow New Yorkers. Thank God the officers are doing well and will recover.”

The shooting strikes a nerve among citizens and police alike as it comes just weeks after NYPD police officers Wenjian Liu and Raphael Ramos were fatally shot in Brooklyn on Dec. 20. The officers were gunned down in their patrol car by a man who vowed online to kill “pigs” and sought revenge for the police-involved deaths of Ferguson teen Michael Brown and Eric Garner of Staten Island. The man opened fire, killing the officers, then ran into a subway where he committed suicide.

Ramos was buried Dec. 27; Liu was buried Sunday. Police officers from around the country attended the funerals. Many of the attending officers turned their backs as de Blasio spoke at the funeral.

The Associated Press reports that the Mayor called the action “disrespectful” and that the actions were” hurtful “to the families. He also stated that the public rebuke was an offense to the city at large.

The Mayor has been labeled “anti-police” and the rift between the de Blasio and the police unions has evolved into the biggest crises facing the Mayor and his leadership. The unions have blamed de Blasio for fostering an anti-NYPD atmosphere. This negative view of the NYPD is believed to have contributed to the deaths of Ramos and Liu.

ABC reports that earlier on Monday, Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton held a press conference to address reports of an intentional work slowdown by NYPD. The alleged slowdown is in response to the mayor’s support of recent anti-cop protests in NYC.

“At this time, I would not use the term slowdown,” Bratton said, adding if he discovers organized effort on the part of police, “we will deal with it very forcefully.”

The shooting later that Monday night does not appear to be a result of the officer’s being targeted. The organization COP SHOT, Citizens Outraged at Police Being Shot, had offered a $10,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects.

Read more about the NYPD December 20 shooting here.

[Images: Yahoo News Canada and AP]