Jessica Anderson
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — New York City police are on the hunt for a suspect wanted in connection to a police-involved shootout that damaged an NYPD vehicle Wednesday evening.
Two officers in a marked patrol vehicle encountered two men in Queens at the intersection of Beach Channel Drive and Dix Avenue around 5:40 p.m., an NYPD spokesman said.
One of them was allegedly shooting at the other, who ran toward police. As police were rolling up, the suspect fired in their direction.
Both officers exited their vehicle and one returned fire, the spokesman said.
The suspect fled the scene and no one is believed to have been shot, he said, but the officers sustained minor injuries -- one had tinnitus and the other received a laceration to the finger.
https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1270928665606524928
The suspect remained at large Wednesday evening.
Unrest has racked New York and other cities as looters and rioters have taken advantage of protests following the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. At least 292 NYPD officers had been injured during the protests as of Saturday -- and other attacks on police have not resulted in injuries.
The NYPD on Wednesday released a video of a suspect it said allegedly threw an “incendiary device” at another police vehicle in the Bronx on June 1.
https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1270870858890911745
The Queens shootout came a day after New York Police Benevolent Association President Mike O’Meara received national attention after he accused the media and politicians of “vilifying” cops amid left-wing calls for cities to “defund” or “dismantle” their police departments.
“We are portrayed in the press and everywhere else as the enemy, and we want people to know that we take our jobs seriously, we’re professional, and the vast, vast majority of the time we act appropriately and honorably,” he said.