by Robert Hanley, New York Times
JERSEY CITY - A 43-year-old police officer was shot twice and seriously wounded today after he stopped a couple in a Jeep outside a high school at the end of the lunch hour, the authorities said.
The shooting occurred moments after the officer, William Chavis, had placed the Jeep’s driver in his patrol car. As he returned to the Jeep, a woman got out and shot Officer Chavis in the right shoulder and near the right side of his neck with a .32-caliber handgun, Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham said. The reasons for the stop and the detention were unknown late this afternoon, the mayor said.
Officer Chavis, a 13-year veteran, was reported in guarded but stable condition after treatment at the Jersey City Medical Center. Dr. Hanson Hsu said during a news conference at the hospital that the slugs damaged nerves in Officer Chavis’s shoulder and that neurosurgeons were considering surgery.
After the shooting, the woman was caught by James Ahern, a retired Jersey City police lieutenant who now teaches history at Dickinson High School, where the shooting occurred, Mayor Cunningham said at the news conference.
“He’s certainly the hero today,” the mayor said.
Mr. Ahern had been returning from lunch when he witnessed the shooting, the mayor said. As the woman fled, Mr. Ahern ran to the wounded officer, helped him briefly, and then took the officer’s weapon and handcuffs and ran after her, the mayor said.
She ran about two blocks to Newark Avenue, a busy commercial street, and tried to duck into a pizza shop, Larry and Joe’s Pizza, about four blocks from the Hudson County Courthouse.
The owner of the pizzeria, Christina Papageorgiou, said the woman got about one foot inside the front door when Mr. Ahern overtook her.
“He put a gun on her head and pulled her outside and put her on the ground,” Ms. Papageorgiou said. She said about 10 customers were in the pizzeria and some tried to duck under their tables.
The suspect was identified as Ivelisse Gilestra, 27, of North Bergen. She was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and illegal possession of a weapon, Mayor Cunningham said. The authorities declined to identify the man with her because he was not charged with a crime.
Mayor Cunningham said the shooting occurred about 12:50 p.m., about six minutes after Officer Chavis stopped the Jeep on Palisade Avenue, near Washburn Street, a narrow one-way street where Dickinson students often park their cars.
“We’re still researching the exact reason for the stop,” the mayor said in late afternoon.