Two NYPD cops were shot and wounded in Brooklyn Tuesday when an unhinged suspect with a lengthy rap sheet grabbed an officer’s gun and opened fire as the officers tried to arrest him, authorities said.
One of the officers was hit in the hand and the other cop was struck in the leg after Melvin Butler, 39, allegedly fired the cop’s gun while resisting arrest, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said during a press conference.
Police at the scene returned fire and struck Butler in the stomach and leg during the melee at a Brownsville apartment building around 3:30 p.m., police and law enforcement sources said.
The suspect — who was accused of assaulting his mother inside the apartment before the shooting — was loaded into an ambulance and taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was listed in critical, but stable condition.
The wounded cops were taken to Kings County Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police and sources.
Three officers and one sergeant initially responded to the scene after the suspect’s mother said she was being assaulted by her son and had suffered a head injury, Kenny said.
“From what I viewed it’s immediately as they’re struggling they’re going to the ground and then you hear an officer state ‘he has my gun,’” Kenny said.
Officials said Butler was a repeat offender, who had served 15 years in prison for an attempted murder rap back in 2004.
Butler’s most recent arrests include violating an order of protection and third-degree assault, Kenny said. Both were tied to domestic violence, he said.
Police are still reviewing the bodycam footage of the incident, the chief added.
Kenny said the suspect has no history of emotional problems that the NYPD is aware of.
PBA President Patrick Hendry railed against the state’s legal system, arguing Butler felt “emboldened” to resist and attack cops.
“Our system is broken, at every step of the way our criminal justice system is broken and it needs to change,” said Hendry, who vowed the union would push to see the suspect remain behind bars.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams called the suspect a “very violent and dangerous person that has a long history of violence.”
“This was a horrific incident that because of [the officers’] actions a dangerous person is apprehended and we have two officers that will be going home to their families,” Adams said.