NYPD cop shot three times in Brooklyn; suspect in custody
A uniformed NYPD cop was shot three times — including once in the bulletproof vest — during a shootout with a known gang member in Brooklyn on Wednesday night, police said.
The incident unfolded around 11:15 p.m. at Macon Street and Howard Avenue in Bushwick, when two police officers and a sergeant assigned to the 81st Precinct were inside an unmarked car when they spotted a man “walking briskly” and “blading his body,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a morning press conference.
The officers got out of the car to investigate — at which time the man pulled “a firearm, turns on the officers and begins to shoot,” Shea said.
“The sergeant in the auto does not fire his weapon, and again this is all preliminary,” the top cop added. “One of the officers fires 12 rounds. One of the officers fires nine rounds. The officer that fires nine rounds — and we’re not identifying him at this time as we complete notifications — is struck, we believe, three times.”
The officer — identified Thursday as Brian McGurran, who has four years on the job and is assigned to the 81st Precinct — was shot in the bulletproof vest, which stopped the round, as well as the buttocks and right leg, Shea said. He was taken to Kings County Hospital Center.
“The officer, thank God, is here,” the commissioner said. “He is well, and he is expected to make a full recovery.”
The suspect, identified by police sources as 26-year-old Boyce Hayward, a known gang member, was struck once in the leg. He was arrested on scene, and a gun was recovered.
Charges are pending against Hayward.
“Look, this is an example of extraordinary bravery,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters. “Here are officers in a situation when they see someone acting suspiciously. And they go and do what we depend on them to do every single day and protect the fellow New Yorkers, and they do it with courage and bravery, put themselves in harm’s way.”
“But they did exactly the right thing, because in fact this individual had done — from everything we are seeing at this moment — had done harm, and would have done more harm,” Hizzoner added. “And then turned on our officers.”
Authorities are investigating whether the incident is linked to an earlier fatal shooting five blocks away around 11:10 p.m. at Madison Street and Broadway in Bushwick.
In that incident, three men were inside a white 2015 BMW SUV when another man approached and fired into it — striking both the 21-year-old operator and the 28-year-old passenger before taking off, cops said. The passenger was taken to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, and the driver to the Kings County Hospital Center in critical condition, authorities said.
A third man inside the car, 22, was uninjured, cops said. The SUV crashed a short time after the shooting, according to Shea.
All three of the occupants have “an extensive arrest history” and are gang members with open gun cases, Shea said.
At his daily press conference Thursday, de Blasio hailed McGurran as a “heroic officer, out there protecting us.”
“This is an example of the dangers our officers face,” the mayor said, “but also a profound example of the heroism and courage they exhibit, how much we depend on them and the smart strategies of the NYPD to have officers where they are needed.”
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
