By Larry Celona and Erin Calabrese
The New York Post
NEW YORK — An NYPD rookie who took a bullet in a leg was released from the hospital yesterday as three young men were questioned in the shooting, police sources said.
“I’m thankful for my life,” said Officer Jamil Sarwar, 30, as he left Jamaica Hospital to the cheers of family and fellow cops.
Three males in their late teens to early 20s were being questioned at the 75th Precinct station house in Brooklyn yesterday, The Post has learned.
Police also rounded up a handful of people from the area with outstanding warrants and were pressing them for information, sources said.
Sarwar and his partner, Officer Javier Solis, had been on foot patrol Thursday in the Cypress Hill Houses, monitoring two warring gangs that have been shooting at each other, law-enforcement sources said.
The two cops were in pursuit of a shirtless shooter who was running toward 345 Fountain Ave. when Sarwar was shot from the roof of nearby 1210 Sutter Ave., the sources said.
“There were two to three guys on the roof,” one witness said. “Then I heard ‘Boom! Boom!’ . . . [And] everybody started running.”
Police found shell casings on the roof of one of the buildings, sources said.
“Every holiday, they come out with their guns,” said resident Ophelia Champion, 81. “They were letting off firecrackers, but I also heard the gunshots. That’s what they do here.”
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