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Police Officer Is Shot While Chasing Armed Man in the Bronx

The officer, part of a unit that combats gun violence, was hospitalized in stable condition, and a person was in custody, the police said.

Police officers at the scene of the shooting in the Soundview section of the Bronx.Credit...Dakota Santiago for The New York Times

Tuesday night’s patrol began like any other for a team of New York Police Department officers tasked with getting illegal guns off the city’s streets. Then, as they drove through the South Bronx, two of the officers noticed a man who appeared to be carrying a firearm.

The plainclothes officers leapt from their unmarked car, but as the man fled, he began firing, the police said.

“Within minutes, within seconds, they were in a gunfight,” Dermot F. Shea, the police commissioner, said during a news conference early Wednesday.

The man fired four shots at the officers, who are part of the Gun Violence Suppression Division. One bullet struck an officer in his lower back, just below his bulletproof vest, the police said. The officer fired back a single round, but did not strike his attacker.

Police said they arrested Ajani Jones, 24, at the scene in connection with the shooting. Mr. Jones was not injured.

The wounded officer, Daniel Vargas, 31, was expected to survive but was in a lot of pain, Mr. Shea said after 1 a.m. on Wednesday at Jacobi Medical Center. Officer Vargas has served in the department for six years.

The violent encounter began as Officer Vargas and three other officers were driving on Lafayette Avenue toward White Plains Road in an unmarked car. They spotted Mr. Jones at about 10:30 p.m., the police said.

After the incident, a gun was recovered under a nearby car, the police said.

Mr. Jones is being charged with attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon and assault.

Tracey Jones, an aunt of Mr. Jones, disputed the description police gave of her nephew.

“He’s not a criminal,” Ms. Jones said. “He may have a misdemeanor or two, but he’s not the guy they are trying to make him out to be.” She said family members are not aware of what led to his arrest.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said during his daily morning briefing Wednesday that he had visited Officer Vargas in the hospital hours earlier and found him in good spirits.

“Thank God that he is going to be OK,” Mr. de Blasio said. “Officer Vargas, out there last night, protecting his fellow Bronxites. And shot while doing his job.”

The mayor said many of the officer’s relatives have served in the department and described him “as a proud son of the Bronx.”

Tuesday night’s shooting came amid an unrelenting crime wave that has plagued New Yorkers since the pandemic arrived in the spring. Citywide, shootings doubled in 2020 over the previous year, climbing to 1,531, and murders rose 44 percent to 462, a trend that has shown few signs of abating in recent months, according to police statistics.

Officials said the department has tried to curb the violence by going after people carrying illegal guns. In 2020, officers arrested nearly 30 percent more people in possession of an illegal firearm compared with 2019, from 3,299 to 4,253, according to police data.

The gun division Officer Vargas was assigned to is a crucial part of that strategy, Mr. de Blasio said.

“It’s a reminder to all New Yorkers that our officers are out there constantly getting guns off the streets more and more each day, each week,” he said. “And this is a key part of how we turn the tide and get our city safer as we go through 2021.”

Officers have made more than 400 gun arrests so far this year, Mr. Shea said Wednesday during an interview on WABC-AM.

In the “vast, vast, vast majority of these cases, cops are taking guns off the street from sometimes pretty dangerous individuals without a shot being fired,” he said.

Police officials have blamed much of the last year’s gun violence on a deadly combination of a thriving black market in firearms, never ending feuds between street crews and the economic collapse brought on by the pandemic.

This is the third shooting of New York City police officers in three months. In November, two officers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening when they were shot in Queens. The gunman was killed.

The following month, on Christmas Eve, a police officer in Brooklyn was shot after responding to a call about domestic violence. The officer was saved by the bulletproof vest he was wearing, officials said.

Patrick J. Lynch, the longtime president of the city’s largest police union, voiced his frustration over the spate of attacks on police.

“It seems like people are getting numb to the fact that cops are getting shot,” Mr. Lynch said at the overnight news conference.

On Wednesday morning police officers in tactical gear canvassed the area, which is near the Bruckner Expressway.

The Rev. Oswald Denis, a Bronx pastor who has been protesting the increase in violence, said he first rushed to the scene and found dozens of armed officers canvassing the surrounding areas looking for clues. After he surveyed the scene, which he described as “chaotic,” he headed to Jacobi Medical Center to pray for the officer who was wounded.

“I am here,” Pastor Denis said. “We are a huge family and we stand together, not just with the N.Y.P.D. but with victims. We are for victims against violence as a whole.”

Adam Farence and Azi Paybarah contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

Edgar Sandoval is a reporter on the Metro desk at The New York Times, where he covers criminal justice.  More about Edgar Sandoval

Neil Vigdor is a breaking news reporter on the Express Desk. He previously covered Connecticut politics for the Hartford Courant. More about Neil Vigdor

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