Crime & Safety

NYPD Officer Shot, Injured In Bronx Gunfight

A man Tuesday night opened fire "within seconds," authorities said, on the officer — the first NYPD cop shot this year.

A man Tuesday night opened fire "within seconds," authorities said, on the officer — the first NYPD cop shot this year.
A man Tuesday night opened fire "within seconds," authorities said, on the officer — the first NYPD cop shot this year. (Courtesy of Tim Lee)

NEW YORK CITY — A gunfight between an NYPD officer and an armed man erupted "within seconds" of a traffic stop on a Bronx street, leaving the cop wounded, authorities said.

The officer, 31, is recovering at Jacobi Hospital, said police Commissioner Dermot Shea. He's the first NYPD officer shot in the line of duty this year.

The incident unfolded Tuesday night at about 9:30 p.m. when the officer — who is part of an NYPD gun violence suppression unit — tried to pull over a man, 24, near Lafayette Avenue and White Plains Road.

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"In the course of seconds, what we know is that our officer we believe fired one round,” Shea said. “We believe the perpetrator fired four rounds, and during that exchange of gunfire our officer was struck, what we believe was one time in the lower back below his bulletproof vest.”

Shea said the officer — later identified as Daniel Vargas, a six-year NYPD veteran, by the New York Daily News — is in “a lot of pain” but is expected to make a full recovery.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the officer in the hospital and praised his “extraordinary bravery” for his work getting guns off the streets.

“Anyone who wants an example of how hard the NYPD works, how committed our officers are, you see it this evening in the Bronx,” he said.

Shea said the suspect is a man, 24, with several past arrests in New York City and New Jersey. Police arrested him at the scene and recovered a handgun.


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