Boyce Howard, who allegedly shot cop, is known gang member with rap sheet
The alleged gunman who exchanged gunfire with cops in Brooklyn Wednesday night — injuring one officer — is a known gang member with five prior arrests, according to police.
The suspect, identified by police sources as Boyce Hayward, 26, is a member of the Young Stackers street gang, according to cops.
The Young Stackers is based at NYCHA’s Bushwick Houses, according to published reports.
Hayward has five prior arrests, including four for criminal possession of a controlled substance, and one for driving while intoxicated, police sources said.
Hayward has tattoos with the words “Pray 4 Me” on both his hands, police sources said.
Two police officers and a sergeant were patrolling in an unmarked car around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday at Macon Street and Howard Avenue in Bushwick when they spotted Hayward “walking briskly” and “blading his body,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a press conference early Thursday.
When cops got out of the car, Hayward allegedly turned on them and opened fire.
The cops returned fire — one of them letting off a dozen rounds and the other nine rounds, Shea said.
The officer who fired nine rounds, identified as Brian McGurran, 28, was struck three times — once in the bulletproof vest, which stopped the round, as well as in the buttocks and right leg, the top cop said.
McGurran, of Smithtown, Suffolk County, who has been on the force since April 2017, was taken to the Kings County Hospital Center, where he is expected to make a full recovery.
Hayward was also hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the leg.
Hayward is suspected in an earlier fatal shooting five blocks away around 11:10 p.m. at Madison Street and Broadway in Bushwick — which killed a 28-year-old passenger and wounded a 21-year-old driver of a white 2015 BMW SUV.
The victims in that shooting were members of the Crips gang, according to the sources.