Officer, 16-year-old suspect shot by same bullet in Bronx

An officer and 16-year-old suspect were both shot by the same bullet on Tuesday night, police told PIX11 News.

None of the officers at the scene near Lorillard Place and Third Avenue fired a gun, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. Six officers had approached the suspect, who was part of large and disorderly group, and repeatedly told the teen to remove his hands from his pockets.

He struggled with officers and, during the struggle, a single shot fired by the suspect’s gun hit the teen in the groin area. The bullet passed through and hit an officer’s leg.

Chief of Detectives James Essig said the teen’s gun had been reported stolen from York County in South Carolina. The gun, a SIG Sauer, was recovered from the scene, along with a deformed bullet.

The teen was identified as a member of a subset of the Crips, Essig said.

The suspect had been arrested at 14 years old for possession of a gun, Mayor Eric Adams said. He was charged as a juvenile delinquent and put on probation, according to Essig.

The block where the shooting happened is known as a problematic area, Essig said. There are drug and gang issues in the area.

Both the officer and suspect were taken to area hospitals, police said.

The officer, who was shot in the leg, was released from the hospital overnight, exiting the hospital to the applause from fellow officers and NYPD personnel.

This is not the first police-involved shooting of the month in New York City. An off-duty NYPD officer was shot in East Harlem while asleep in a precinct parking lot.

Adams, a former cop himself, has met with grassroots, gun violence prevention groups in recent weeks. He’s said he wants to wants to reform and rebuild New York City’s plainclothes anti-crime units to get more guns off the streets.

“One officer shot is one officer too many,” Adams said early Wednesday.

In her 18 days as commissioner, Sewell has been to city hospitals twice to see officers after shootings. She said it underscores the fact that there are too many guns on New York City streets.

“All too often, those who are carrying them are young,” she said.