Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Updates The Media On The Shooting That Occurred In The Confines Of The 6th Precinct With Police Commissioner Bratton

July 28, 2014

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton: Good afternoon. Joining me here today is Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, NYPD Department Surgeon Dr. Eli Kleinman, and president of our Detectives Endowments Association, Mike Palladino. Also joining me are our federal partners, Chief Judge Carol Amon representing the Eastern District, Chief Deputy of the United States Marshals Brian [inaudible] of the Eastern District, and Acting United States Marshal Eric Timberman of the Southern District. We are also joined by Dr. Ram Raju, president and CEO of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

This afternoon, at about approximately 1 pm, members of the New York New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, consisting of U.S. Marshals and assisted by a New York City detective, were executing an out of state arrest warrant on a subject identified as Charles Mozdir, M-O-Z-D-I-R, who was wanted for a sex offense in the San Diego area, Coronado. The task force had received information that the suspect was working at the Smoke Line Culture Smoke Shop at 177 West Fourth Street in Downtown Manhattan, the Village. The NYPD detective entered the location and visually confirmed that the subject was present and appeared to be alone in the store. The detective exited the smoke shop and verified to the other members of the task force that Mozdir was present inside, apparently alone.

The detective, accompanied by Unites States Marshals, entered the shop to make an apprehension. Immediately upon entering, a gun battle ensued. Mozdir fired upon the officers at very close range, and the officers returned fire. The exchange of gunfire – during the exchange of gunfire, the detective and two marshals were wounded. Charles Mozdir was shot dead. He was immediately – he was subsequently pronounced dead. A 32-caliber handgun was recovered at the scene. Twenty rounds of additional ammunition were found in Mozdir’s pockets. The detectives and two U.S. Marshals were transported here to Bellevue Hospital. They’re all currently listed in stable condition. Their identification is being withheld pending further family notifications. The mayor and I and the chief judge have had the opportunity to speak to all three. The detective from the New York City Police Department was being visited at the time of our arrival and discussion by his mother, son, and fiancé.  The NYPD detective is 45 years old and has more than 20 years with the department. I just had the good fortune of promoting him a month ago at police headquarters.

I certainly want to thank this medical staff here at Bellevue Hospital for all of their medical assistance. It is certainly one of the foremost medical institutions here in this city, and one that has always done well by our members. So with that, I’d like to ask Mayor de Blasio to come up, and then we will seek to display to you the bulletproof vest that was being worn by our detective. It’s our belief that the wearing of that vest may have in fact contributed to the saving of his life in this matter. Sir?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you so much commissioner. I want to extend by appreciation to Dr. Raju and everyone at Bellevue for taking such good care of these three men. These two marshals and the NYPD detective exhibited extraordinary bravery. They had to deal with an incredibly difficult situation, split-second decisions. And they do what law enforcement personnel do every day, they have to put their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. And these three men did that. We all feel such gratitude, such appreciation for their bravery. And I have to say, for the commissioner and I to be able to talk to each one of them – each one in good spirits, minimizing their extraordinary efforts. But I can say on behalf of all 8.4 million New Yorkers that we appreciate their bravery, their strength, their decisiveness. And we’re going to make sure that each of them is taken care of. It’s thank god a situation where each of them is in stable condition. But we’re going to make sure that they get a full recovery and we look forward to honoring them when they’re well. So this is a day when we have a lot to be thankful for. I also want to amplify the point that the commissioner made. This is an example of these men being protected by their vests, and it’s such an important piece of the protection that each of our officers has. So let’s take a look now so you can see –

Commissioner Bratton: This is the vest being worn by Officer Muniz that, as you can see, there was an entrance just to the left of the front of the vest. [Inaudible]

We have recovered the round from the vest that the vest actually kept from penetrating into his body.

Mayor: I want to point out the area where it is just so everyone sees it.

Question: And commissioner, would you mind just saying that again, repeating that – where it entered and—?

Commissioner Bratton: Effectively what you can see is where the round entered. The round was recovered in the vest that – so obviously the vest did save the officer from the grievous injury if that round had entered his chest. Thank you.

Question: Would you repeat the suspect’s name?

Commissioner Bratton: Yes, okay. The suspect’s – or the subject, the deceased subject, his name is – I’ll spell it for you also, is Charles Mozdir. M-O-Z-D-I-R. That we were acting – the Fugitive Task Force – our colleagues from the U.S. Marshals, are serving an out-of-state warrant on behalf of police authorities in the State of California in the San Diego area.

Question: [inaudible] his age.

Commissioner Bratton: I’m sorry, he is 32 years of age. A white male.

Question: Can you explain how the team came to realize that he was at the location? How they got him?

Commissioner Bratton: No, at the stage of the investigation, which effectively will – the New York City Police Department is working with the marshals but it was working on a U.S. Marshals task force so we won’t go into any of the specifics of how we came to know he was in that location or any of the details of what transpired relative to the shooting inside the premises. That’s all part of our investigation at this time.

Question: But at this point does it look like the suspect fired first? That’s what –?

Commissioner Bratton: Again, this investigation is only four hours old so we will determine the sequence of what occurred in that shop this afternoon, but again it is quite clear that the injuries sustained by our officers were basically caused by the suspect.

Question: Commissioner, can you tell us when the tip came in, about how long ago, and did it have anything to do with [inaudible] with his being featured on [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: I can’t speak to the circumstances of how the task force became aware of this individual or how they became aware of his presence here in New York City. At this stage of the game, I prefer not to go into that detail, it’s still part of the investigation.

Question: Do you have a sense of how long he had been in New York? What was he doing here [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: We do not at this time, no.

Question: Why was that detective on the job with this task force?

Commissioner Bratton: We have a number of joint task forces. We have the joint terrorist task force that you are very familiar with. And we also have a number of members of our department working with our colleagues, the U.S. Marshals, ATF, it’s part of the extensive collaboration that we engage in and we’re proud to be part of – members. I think I have almost 20 detectives currently working with that task force.

Question: And the name of the officer, the NYPD officer?

Commissioner Bratton: We are not releasing that at this time till we’re assured that all of the relatives have in fact been notified.

Question: Commissioner, can you  [inaudible] dialogue exchanged between the suspect and the marshals?

Commissioner Bratton: We’ll not go into any of the details of what occurred in that shop. That’s still – Its only four hours into this investigation. Four hours after the incident.

Question: Can you talk about how [inaudible] the weapon the suspect had?

Commissioner Bratton: The suspect had a 32-caliber firearm – 32-caliber revolver with 20 spare rounds in his pocket at the time of his death.

Question: How many spare rounds, I’m sorry. [Inaudible]

Question: So if you can go through where the three officers – where they were hit [inaudible]. And if you had the opportunity to speak to them after this since they are in stable condition, what did they have to say?

Commissioner Bratton: As the mayor indicated that we’re quite proud of their performance, that the two U.S. Marshals that were part of a larger team of marshals assisted by our officer. Our officer received a wound lower than his vest. One of the U.S. Marshals I believe had an elbow wound and a second had I think a wound to the left buttock or right buttock.

Question: And what did they have to say? Did you have the opportunity to speak to them?

Commissioner Bratton: We will not talk about the specifics of the case with them at this time. We’re there just to offer our support for them and their families.

Question: [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: I’m sorry, what was that?

Question: The suspect, was he disguising himself in anyway? [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: The suspect had apparently changed his appearance from earlier times, that seems to be the case. I won’t go into the specifics of that.

Question: Did these officers know this guy was armed and dangerous going into this operation?

Commissioner Bratton: I can’t speak to that either. That’s part of the investigation. I am not aware of that personally.

Question: And can you describe the close quarters of  [inaudible].

Commissioner Bratton: It is a smoke shop. It is very close quarters as I understand it in the confines of that premise. Very close quarters. Thank you all.