Jan 6, 2015: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, second left, stands by as Police Commissioner William Bratton, second right, speaks at a news conference at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx after two police officers were shot. (AP Photo/Tom McElroy)
There’s a massive manhunt underway early Tuesday for the suspected armed robbers who shot and wounded two plainclothes NYPD officers in the Bronx. Both officers — who The New York Post identified as Andrew Dossi and Aliro Pellaranoare — are expected to survive.
The two officers just ended their regular shifts when they responded to a report of a robbery at a Chinese restaurant at approximately 10:30 P.M. ET. When they arrived, two suspects fired on the officers, hitting Pellarano in the arm and also grazing him in the chest, while Dossi was shot in the stomach and the arm. The gunmen exchanged fire with other officers responding to the call, but fled the scene on foot.
Officials at the NYPD confirmed that the suspects carjacked a white Chevrolet Camaro, but made it only a few blocks before crashing they crashed the vehicle. They then got out and fled on foot. A source told the Post that a weapon was recovered near where the car crashed, though PPD was not able to confirm that account.
Both officers were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where Dossi was reportedly undergoing surgery early Tuesday morning.
“Thanks God these officers are doing well,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news conference at the hospital early Tuesday. “These officers did something that was extraordinarily brave.They did it as part of their commitment. These officers had just come off their shift and upon hearing this call went back out in search of these criminals. The work they do is so profoundly important in this instance where they went above and beyond the call to protect their fellow New Yorkers.”
The Post reported that one possible suspect was apprehended at nearby New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he had sought treatment for a gunshot wound. It was not clear how he was shot.
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton described the suspects as two Hispanic men in their mid-to-late 20s. The organization COP SHOT, Citizens Outraged at Police Being Shot, has offered a $10,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects.
