Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Briefs Media After Visiting NYPD Officer Who Was Shot

December 21, 2022

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell: Thank you all for being here. We are here at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn at the side of an NYPD officer shot in the line of duty this morning, the duty we asked him and all NYPD officers to do every single day. He answered a call for help. He's a seven-year-veteran officer. He is a husband and a father, and thankfully, he will recover. We want to thank the physicians and staff of Kings County Hospital and our own Dr. Kleinman for the great care provided to our members.

Our wounded officer decided to dedicate his life to helping others just as all of your NYPD officers do. This is the 10th officer shot this year in nine separate incidents. The shootings of your NYPD officers go back to New Year's Day this year, and here we are again as this year comes to a close. The strength and resilience of the NYPD will never waiver. Our members have sworn to help, to face danger, to assist the victims of crime and apprehend dangerous criminals across this city every day, and as we have seen, it is at great risk to themselves. I am deeply grateful for their courage and commitment. They deserve our respect, and we need your support. I would like to turn it over to the mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, commissioner. And just a few days ago, you announced the identification of a suspect that was wanted for a shooting that took place in the beginning of this administration. It just really personifies the persistency and consistency that this agency would carry out to find those who are responsible for creating violence in our city. Speaking with Officer Adorno, his wife and his brother as I visited him a short time ago, it was clear that he is resilient about dealing with the violence in our city. And I cannot thank the responding officers, not only Officer Adorno who received a bullet wound to his foot, but the other officers involved. Their level of discipline, of responding to the initial job, their level of coordination and their ability to apprehend the suspect that was involved carrying a loaded weapon.

Officer Adorno was also joined by his partner who this was her actual first day inside an RMP carrying out her job, and that is the level of uncertainty every day that our officers face. You don't know what is going to happen during your tour of duty and we want to thank her as well. And let's be clear, because of Officer Adorno and his partner's actions, we have a dangerous person off our street. We have an illegal gun off our street. The removal of close to 7,000 illegal guns, over 4,400 people arrested for carrying those guns is a real signal of how our police department is continuing to respond and not allow anything to get in the way of their primary responsibility, and that's keeping our city safe. And I want to thank all of our police officers during this time of the year as we conclude one year of watching the decrease in shooters, the decrease in homicides, the number of arrests that the chief of detectives and his team have had the ability to close many of these cases and apprehend.

It just shows how much this coordinated effort of the New York City Police Department and other law enforcement agencies involved have been clear on the mission. Removing guns, removing dangerous people that are carrying guns. Now is an obligation for every part of the criminal justice system to play that same level of aggressive role so that we can ensure dangerous people don't remain on our streets. Officer Adorno is going home today with his family. The other officers involved are going home with their families, and the only reason that other New Yorkers are going to feel that safety is because we have those types of officers that are out here placing themselves on the front line to deal with violence in our city.
And we will continue to be optimistic under the leadership of this commissioner and her team that we are going to go after those dangerous individuals in this city that believe they can carry out their illegal actions without reprisal. Not while we have a department like the NYPD. So again, I want to thank all the officers involved, and in particular, but I also want to thank the leadership team of the New York City Police Department for the continuing action of going after dangerous people in our city. Thank you.

Commissioner Sewell: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to turn it over to chief of detectives, James Essig, to give details of the investigation. I'll step to the other side of you.

James Essig, Chief of Detectives, Police Department: Thank you, commissioner. Good morning. At approximately 8:36 AM, members of the 79 Precinct responded to a 911 call for a domestic dispute at 277 Gates Avenue, apartment 3D. The female caller stated that her male friend was damaging the wall and was refusing to leave. At approximately 8:50 AM, two sectors in the 79 Precinct arrived at the scene which consisted of four police officers. They were met in front of the location by a male and female. After an investigation, it was determined that the male was going to be placed under arrest for the criminal mischief of the wall. As the officers attempted to place the male in custody, a struggle ensued. A shot was fired striking our officer in the right foot. The perpetrator fled eastbound on Gates Avenue for one block, southbound on Bedford Avenue for one block, and then again, eastbound on Monroe with the gun in hand. Four members of the 79 Precinct were in close pursuit. Two were in an auto, two were on foot.

In front of 184 Monroe Street, the perpetrator was confronted by two officers. Shots were exchanged and our perpetrator was struck two times in the left thigh. A total of six shots were fired by the uniform members of the service, five times by one officer, one time by another. A total of three shots were fired by our perpetrator and three shell casings, 9mms, were recovered. One shell casing was recovered in front of 277 Gates Avenue where our officer was shot in the foot, and two shell casings were recovered in front of 184 Monroe Street with the exchange of gunfire. A 9mm handgun was recovered from his person, shown here. We are awaiting trace results for that gun right now, but at this time, it is not reported stolen.

Our member of the service was taken to Kings County Hospital for a gunshot wound to his right foot. Our perpetrator was taken to Brookdale Hospital and treated for gunshot wounds to his left thigh. He is Raheen Joye, a male, 41 years old of 601 Sackett Street in Brooklyn. He has 17 prior arrests in Georgia, the state of Georgia, dating between 1998 and 2014. Most are for low level drugs and a DUI, but two noteworthy arrests were from 2005 for discharging a firearm and 2007 for criminal possession of a weapon. He also has an outstanding warrant for a weapons possession for Troy, New York. With that, I'll turn it over to the PBA president, Patrick Lynch.

Patrick Lynch, President, Police Benevolent Association: Thank you, chief. As folks in our neighborhoods are planning for the holiday, going Hanukkah and Christmas shopping, doing those last minute things, going to work to try to make money, to have a peaceful festive holiday, remember that there's police officers that are still responding to chaos and violence on the streets. While we're pleased here today that this injury is not life-threatening, the chaos they walked into, the shots being fired at them could have landed any place in these police officers’ bodies and it could have been more serious like we've had during holidays in the past. We cannot allow violence towards police officers to become normalized. Now, we expect, and the citizens should demand, that the rest of the criminal justice system do their job like the New York City Police Department has done ours.

Question: What was the relationship between the suspect and the female victim?

Essig: She describes it as her male friend, so they were friends.

Question:  Can you just explain? So they went there… What's the nature of the criminal mischief?

Essig: The 911 call states that he was breaking her walls, damage to her walls. When the officers got to the scene, they met them in front. Two officers went upstairs and they observed the wall being damaged, so that he was going to be placed under arrest for criminal mischief.

Question: Did he fire while he was in handcuffs? Was he in handcuffs at some point?

Essig: No, he was never in handcuffs. When the officers came downstairs after seeing the damage to the wall, they came down, they were attempting to place him under arrest. He struggled, a shot was fired striking our officer in the foot, and then our perpetrator took off.

Question: (Inaudible.) Chief, did he try to explain at all to the police officers what had happened upstairs, again, objecting to being arrested?

Essig: There was a brief conversation between the officers, but we observed the damage, he committed the damage. We had a complainant who was the female. He was going to be placed under arrest for that.

Question: So when you guys arrived, she took you upstairs to show the damage?

Essig: No, she stood downstairs and the two officers went upstairs to the apartment.

Question: Can you confirm if the officer was shot by the suspect's gun? Was the officer shot by the suspect?

Essig: The officer was shot on the scene by the suspect's gun, the 9mm gun that was recovered later on at 184 Monroe. So our suspect or our perpetrator fired three shots. One at the original scene at 277 which struck our officer, and two times again at 184 when he was confronted.

Question: Were the body cameras activated? And there was also security footage on the outside of the building. I know y'all haven't been able to get that. Have y'all examined the body camera footage?

Essig: Yes. We examined the body camera footage. We examined a lot of the video we still have up and it confirms just what I've been saying.

Question: The officer's name please? And can you also repeat the suspect's name?

Essig: Excuse me?

Question: The officer's name? I know the mayor referred to his last name.

Essig: I'll repeat the perpetrator's name if you need. Raheen. R-A-H-E-E-N. Joye, J-O-Y-E. He's a male, 41 years old.

Question: Can you identify the officer?

Commissioner Sewell: Not at this time. We'll release the name later on.

Question: Chief, what are they arguing about upstairs that leads him to breaking the walls? And based on the body cam footage, how long is the interaction before they move to a wrestling (inaudible)?

Essig: We're still talking to her. This is about two hours old. We get the dispute that she calls 911 and says he's breaking walls, he's refusing to leave the apartment. We haven't gotten that far along to see what actually it was. As far as the footage, we get there at 8:50, approximately, we go upstairs, come down approximately 10 minutes later. I think 9:04 is the actual shots fired, put over.

Question: Chief, you said the female officer, the partner, it was her first day in the radio patrol car. How long does she have on and where was she during the shooting?

Commissioner Sewell: She has about a year on. She was the partner with the officer at the scene.

Question: When he fired all three times, did he take a stance and fire? Did he have a gun in his pocket? What's the deal?

Essig: When they went to cuff him, a shot rings out. They're grabbing him by the arms, trying to place his gun. He has his hand in his pocket, a shot fires out. As he's running down the street as we're pursuing him, he has the gun in his right hand and the officer confronts him and shots are exchanged.

Question: Thank you.