The Associated Press
MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- An off-duty New York City police officer early Monday confronted two masked men, one armed with a handgun, burglarizing a two-family house where she lived.
Nassau County police said the 29-year-old female officer, who was not identified, was walking to the rear of the house when she encountered the suspects as they were fleeing the second floor apartment, above the one where she lived.
They tried to push her to the back of the house, but she pulled her service revolver and shot one of the suspects in the stomach, said police.
The suspects then wrestled the officer to the ground and took her gun before fleeing, police said. About 10 minutes later, at 12:10 a.m., a Nassau County patrol car stopped a suspicious vehicle in the area and arrested three men in connection with the incident.
Police recovered two guns, one of them belonging to the officer.
The suspects, all from Freeport, were identified as Jose Rodriquez, 28, Gabriel Galan, 47, and Carlos Espinoza, 23. They were all charged with robbery, burglary, assault and criminal possession and criminal use of a weapon.
Police said it was not immediately known what was taken in the robbery.
The officer was taken to Nassau University Medical Center where she was treated for lacerations and contusions and released.
Rodriquez, the injured suspect, was admitted to the same hospital in serious condition.