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A third New York City police officer was shot this year in the line of duty early Thursday.
Authorities say a narcotics detective suffered a non-fatal, but "possibly career-ending" gunshot wound to the leg while executing a warrant as part of long-term drug investigation in Staten Island.
The detective, who has been with the NYPD for 10 years, was experiencing some complications and was undergoing surgery at Staten Island University Hospital, authorities said.
He has not been identified, but police said the detective has received numerous medals and commendations and had never before fired his weapon in the performance of his duty.
NEW YORK CITY 11-MONTH-OLD SHOT IN FACE, POLICE SAY
The other two police shootings have come in Harlem and the Bronx, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a press conference.
"Every single day, the men and women of the NYPD put themselves in harm's way, and they do it unwaveringly. We stand here at a hospital once again, extremely fortunate that our detective, New York City's detective, is going to recover after being shot," Sewell said. "Three officers shot in 20 days. We're grateful that they're all recovering, and we're mindful that this morning's shooting continues to underscore how New York's finest put everything on the line to do the job we ask them to do."
A New York Police Department patrol car. (iStock )
As part of a drug investigation, NYPD narcotics personnel at 6:02 a.m. ET at 82 Rockne St., executed a search warrant issued by the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office. They also had an arrest warrant for 40-year-old Anthony Marshall for sale of a controlled substance, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
The shooter was identified as Marshall's roommate, Nelson Pizarro, 39. A 9mm Beretta handgun was recovered from the scene. Police said he has seven priors in New York state, including aggravated license, criminal possession of a controlled substance and reckless endangerment. He also brought in contraband when in prison, and had another arrest for criminal possession of a controlled substance and weapons possession.
His out-of-state record included a 2001 gun arrest in Massachusetts and larceny in Connecticut.
Essig said officers – attired in NYPD tactical vests and shields – breached the front door of the two-story semi-attached house, announcing their presence, and made their way up the stairs to the second floor, which consisted of three bedrooms and a bathroom separated by a tight, long, narrow hallway.
A 9mm Beretta handgun was recovered from the scene where a detective was shot in Staten Island while executing narcotics-related warrants. (NYPD Crime Stoppers)
As the team got to the first bedroom, they were fired upon from the bedroom down the hall. The detective was shot in his right leg, but "heroically managed to cover the remaining members of his team with ballistic shield, saving potential injury to other members of his team," Essig said.
Marshall has four prior arrests in New York for criminal sale of a controlled substance. In 2013, he was arrested as part of a long-term investigation and served 48 months in jail. He also has a 2018 New Jersey arrest record for cocaine distribution. Two women were also taken into custody Thursday.
"I have to highlight and emphasize the heroics of the detective who was shot and the extraordinary team of officers who were in a fight for their lives," Sewell said at the press conference. "Even with a serious leg wound – bleeding badly enough that fellow officers had to apply immediate pressure to slow the blood loss – he held a ballistic shield in front of his team to protect them from gunfire."
"These deadly illegal guns, no, no neighborhoods," the commissioner continued. "It's officers we witnessed today that I am sincerely grateful to for their bravery, their courage and their willingness to continue to make every effort to keep this city safe. And they need and deserve the support to do it."
Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, a major police union in the city, called on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to undo the bail reform he credits with contributing to officers having to walk past hundreds of guns a day on the streets of New York City.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a press conference by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announcing the indictment of 17 gang members of murders and gun violence across Brooklyn. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo, stepping in for Mayor Eric Adams while he was on a trip to Washington, D.C., said she had the opportunity to meet the officer and his family.
"He risked his life for all of us," she said. "Now we have to support him."
Streets around the area were closed Thursday morning. The incident followed Tuesday's shooting in the Bronx, where an officer was shot in a leg during a struggle with a 16-year-old suspect.
After the Bronx shooting, a 16-year-old alleged gang member was charged Wednesday night with attempted murder, criminal possession of a firearm and criminal use of a firearm.
He is being charged as a juvenile. The minor was previously arrested in May 2020 in the Bronx at age 14 for firearm possession. He was placed on probation as recently as December, Adams said.
The officer, identified as 27-year-old Kaseem Pennant, was struck once below the knee in the right leg and was released from St. Barnabas Hospital by early Wednesday morning.
The incident began around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when Pennant and five other officers from the 48th Precinct’s public safety team approached a disorderly crowd at Lorillard Place and East 187th Street.
The area is known to police as a problematic block with drugs, gangs and disorderly groups, Essig said. The teen stepped toward a car and put his hands in his pockets.
After the teen ignored officers’ commands to show his hands, a struggle ensued.
The teen’s gun went off, and a bullet struck the minor in the groin, traveling through his body and then into the officer’s leg. Sewell said at no point did any officer fire their weapon.
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"What is it going to take before we finally realize that we are endangering the lives of children by allowing children to carry guns that they are using on children?" Adams asked at a prior press conference. The mayor instructed lawmakers to look at the "energy out there that says it’s OK to carry a gun, and then when we make good arrests like this, we need to make sure they’re prosecuted."
