Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Good morning. I am here to brief you on a police-involved shooting that resulted in one NYPD detective being shot in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. The information that I'm about to provide is quite preliminary, and it is subject to change. We do not have body-worn camera video of the actual shooting incident, presumably because it happened so quickly and unexpectedly, but a number of officers activated their cameras post-discharge. What we can say at this point is that at approximately 4:14 this morning, officers assigned to a Mobile Field Force detail in the confines of the 77th Precinct were parked in an unmarked police vehicle on the west side of Nostrand Avenue in St. John's Place when an individual approached their car.
That same individual was captured on CCTV video five minutes prior and one block north with a firearm in his hand. Given the lack of [a] body-worn camera in this incident, the circumstances of the approach are still unclear, but we can say that officers exited their vehicle and attempted to engage the armed individual. There is also ballistic damage to the department vehicle that the officers were sitting in, including bullet holes in the front and rear windshields and the passenger side of the car. Three officers discharged their weapons. The subject was not struck.
After a foot pursuit, the subject was apprehended a few blocks away from the incident location at Rogers Avenue and Union Street. During the apprehension, the subject resisted arrest and refused to be handcuffed. A taser was deployed, and the subject was taken into custody. A SAR 9mm firearm was recovered.
During the gunfire, one detective was struck in the back of his ballistic vest. X-rays show a contusion to the detective's back near where the bullet struck his vest. A second officer suffered a contusion to the face and the shoulder. The officers involved in this incident were there as part of our Fourth of July Violence Reduction Plan to address ongoing crew violence in the area. The officers had been reassigned there shortly before midnight from a Sail250 detail in Lower Manhattan earlier in the day. The injured officers were immediately transported to Kings County Hospital. The officer who was shot is Detective Robert Karroll of the Sex Offender Monitoring Unit. I have visited with Detective Karroll, and I am grateful to report that he is expected to make a full recovery. His ballistic vest performed exactly as it was designed, and today that vest saved his life.
I want to thank the doctors and nurses and staff at Kings County Hospital for the excellent care that they are providing. The individual in custody is an 18-year-old male. We are not releasing his name at this time. Investigators are currently conducting an extensive camera canvas. Because many businesses were closed overnight, we expect to recover additional video in the coming hours. What happened this morning is another reminder that police officers never know what they will encounter when they begin a tour. Even what appears to be a routine patrol assignment can turn life-threatening in just an instant.
I would be remiss not to mention the weight of today's date, July 5. Nine years ago, to the day, Detective Miosotis Familia was assassinated while sitting in a command post vehicle on an overnight tour. She was murdered without warning for one reason, and that was because she wore an NYPD uniform. Before I close, I also want to provide a brief update on a separate shooting that occurred last night in Coney Island. At approximately 10.35 p.m., officers from the 60th Precinct responded to a 911 call for a person shot near Surf Avenue and West 30th Street. When officers arrived, they found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds in the front courtyard of 29-30 West 30th Street. In total, eight people were shot, four adults and four children, ages 6, 7, 12 and 14.
The preliminary investigation indicates that a family barbecue was taking place in the courtyard when an unknown male, dressed in all black and wearing a black ski mask, approached the fence line along Surf Avenue and fired multiple rounds into the courtyard. The individual then fled on foot southbound on West 30th Street toward Surf Avenue. There is no indication at this time that there was any argument or altercation at the barbecue before the shooting occurred. Earlier this week, we had a confirmed gang-related homicide that occurred on the same block.
We are looking into whether there is a nexus between the two incidents. A Tec-9 style firearm equipped with an extended magazine was recovered on that scene, along with 10 discharged shell casings. Seven of the victims are currently listed as not likely to die. One victim, a 21-year-old woman, was shot in the chest and is listed in critical condition. This remains, of course, an active investigation, and detectives are working to identify and apprehend the person responsible. I will now turn things over to Mayor Mamdani.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. As you've heard, earlier today, an NYPD officer was struck by gunfire. I am relieved that the officer, Detective Robert Karroll, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was not seriously injured as a result of it. Detective Karroll serves as part of a unit and is a husband and father of three children. The individual with the gun was tased, disarmed and has been taken into custody. I want to take this moment to express my gratitude that this incident did not hold more grave consequences and to Detective Karroll and to every officer who has been safeguarding our city over what has been a busy holiday weekend.
Detective Karroll and so many others have been working 12-hour shifts since yesterday afternoon, protecting New Yorkers on the Fourth of July as we held complex events like Sail250 alongside our typical annual celebrations. I am thankful for the NYPD's devotion to our city and the sacrifices so many officers make on a regular basis. It is also not lost on me today that, as the commissioner said, we are marking nine years since Detective Familia was targeted and murdered in a similar fashion.
I know there are countless NYPD officers and New Yorkers mourning Detective Familia today for whom this morning's news is a reminder of the risk that NYPD officers assume each and every day and how we must still work to lift the scourge of violence from our city. I also want to take a moment to speak on the other violence that we saw this weekend. Last night in Brooklyn, eight people were shot at a family barbecue, including four children. All four children are expected to survive. Heartbreakingly, one adult who was shot last night remains in critical condition.
There is no place for this kind of violence in our city. We will not tolerate it, and we will fight it with every single tool at our disposal. As we mourn alongside those whose loved ones have been hurt, let us also recommit ourselves to the work of building a city where every celebration is safe, and every holiday is joyful. I also want to echo the words of appreciation for the doctors, the nurses [and] the staff at Kings County Hospital for the care that they have provided to Detective [Karroll] not only today, but [also] the care they have also provided to officers on the other occasions that we have been here for similar reasons. Thank you so much, and I will now pass it over to the president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, Scott Munro.
Scott Munro, President, Detectives’ Endowment Association: Thank you. This has to stop. Three weeks ago, we had a detective shot in the same hospital; we were in the same hospital. This has to stop. Our members are out there day and night, hours and hours, protecting the people of the City of New York, doing a job, a job that they took an oath to [do]. And they need to be respected. And thank God this detective is going home. And like I said last time, we're not planning a funeral today, thank God.
Nine years ago, we were, though. We need this to stop. We got to respect policing in New York City. You have to respect us. And they have to prosecute this individual. He should not see the light of day. You don't walk up to a police car with a firearm with four police officers that worked hours and hours all week long — prior weeks, two weeks, three weeks — and they continue to do the job. This has to stop. Thank you.
Question: Are there any priors on this 18 year old? Is he known to police?
Police Commissioner Tisch: We're not identifying him at this time.
Question: And was there another officer who was shot?
Police Commissioner Tisch: One officer was shot in his bulletproof vest. Another officer was injured with a contusion to her face and her shoulder.
Question: [Inaudible].
Police Commissioner Tisch: She is here at this time.
Question: Commissioner, you mentioned the gunman, or 18 year old, that approached [the vehicle]. Any idea why these [inaudible] have been running from somewhere? Did he approach that car specifically?
Police Commissioner Tisch: As I mentioned, everything that I just briefed is preliminary and is subject to change. And what makes this briefing different from similar ones that we've unfortunately had to do in recent weeks and months is that this incident was not captured on body-worn camera. So, we are in the midst of a massive camera canvas going around to local businesses to pull footage so that we can get a better sense of exactly what happened, particularly during his approach to the vehicle that the officers were in. But we can say that we recovered a gun on him.
Question: [Inaudible] I just want to get your reaction to the mass shootings in Coney Island.
Police Commissioner Tisch: You got to separate out two things, the data and then the actual human side of the incident. The data in New York City this year in terms of gun violence is historic. It is record-breaking. But clearly, the Police Department has more work to do. We all have more work to do when we see four children shot in one incident celebrating the July Fourth holiday.
Question: Commissioner, you took five shooting incidents last night. Obviously, one of them— were these [inaudible] outside the Violence Reduction Zones and deployments?
Chief Michael J. LiPetri, Chief of Department, Police Department: So, in regard to the five shootings last night and in the morning, two out of the five were in Violent Reduction Zones.
###