Four New York City police officers were shot by a man who barricaded himself inside his Brooklyn home early Easter morning, ABC reports.
The suspect, Nawkwon Foxworth, had reportedly argued with some movers in the lobby of 3301 Nostrand Avenue when he flashed a gun. One of the movers called 911. When cops arrived, Foxworth was inside his apartment with a pregnant woman and a baby. After knocking, cops believed the woman and baby were being held hostage.
As the Emergency Services Unit and a hostage negotiator arrived, the woman was able to escape the apartment with the baby. At this time, ESU officers entered the apartment and Foxworth allegedly opened fire, striking Captain Al Pizzano, Detective Kenneth Ayala, Detective Mike Keenan and Police Officer Matthew Granahan.
Ayala suffered wounds to his thigh and foot. Keenan and Pizzano were both struck in the calf. A bullet grazed Granahan's face. All were in stable condition at Lutheran Medical Center Sunday morning.
Officers Ayala and Granahan returned fire and struck Foxworth in the abdomen. He was listed in critical condition at Kings County Hospital.
Cops found a cache of illegal guns inside Foxworth's apartment.
Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly held a news conference outside Lutheran Medical Center Sunday, condemning the shooting as endemic of lax gun laws in other states. From Gothamist:
And Bloomberg blasted the proliferation of illegal guns, "We have now had eight - that’s correct, eight - members of the department shot in the last four months. And this is the second time in the last 24 hours police have been fired upon by armed assailants. All the shootings have a disgraceful fact in common: all were committed with illegal guns that came from out of state. And that is the case with nearly every shooting in our city. We got very lucky tonight, with no life-threatening injuries to officers or innocent bystanders. But sometimes, as you remember, we aren’t so lucky, as we saw with the murder of Police Officer Peter Figoski in December. We will continue to do everything that we can take illegal weapons off our streets, but until Congress wakes up and finds some courage to stand up to the gun lobby, illegal guns will continue to end up in the hands of dangerous people like tonight’s shooter, who had a small arsenal of illegal guns."