An off-duty New York Metropolis police officer was hospitalized in essential situation after being shot throughout an obvious theft as he tried to buy a car in Brooklyn on Saturday night time, the authorities stated. The taking pictures prompted a sprawling manhunt for the suspect.

The officer, whose title was not launched by the New York Metropolis Police Division, had organized over a social media platform to buy the car in individual, Michael Baldassano, an assistant chief, stated at a information convention on Saturday night time. However when he arrived on the location with a relative, the suspect “displayed a gun and introduced a theft,” resulting in an “alternate of gunfire,” Mr. Baldassano stated.

When the officer, a five-year veteran of the division, was struck, the suspect fled, Mr. Baldassano stated, including that it remained unclear whether or not the assailant had been injured throughout the alternate of gunfire. The relative who had traveled with the officer was not injured within the encounter, the police stated.

Mr. Baldassano stated that whereas the police had “no motive to imagine” the suspect knew that the goal of the tried theft was an off-duty officer, it nonetheless remained beneath investigation.

Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who has made public security a cornerstone of his agenda, stated on the information convention that “it hurts quite a bit” to know that one other officer has been shot.

The taking pictures comes as the town continues to grapple with issues over violent crime. There have been 433 homicides within the metropolis final 12 months, about an 11 % drop from 2021 and the fewest since 2019. However high-profile shootings final 12 months, similar to a mass taking pictures final April on a crowded subway prepare in Brooklyn, and different situations of law enforcement officials being injured by gunfire have alarmed some New Yorkers.

“As we see thus far, and so typically within the metropolis, too many unlawful weapons are within the palms of dangerous folks and doing dangerous issues,” Mr. Adams stated.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated the officer was “combating for his life” on Saturday night time at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn. Within the foyer of the hospital, officers cried and consoled each other as they waited for updates on his situation.

Close to the nook of Ruby Avenue and Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn in East New York, yellow tape cordoned off the realm the place the taking pictures was believed to have occurred, and police automobiles swarmed the realm.

“We are going to catch the individual answerable for this act,” Mr. Adams stated, noting that “for a lot too typically,” he had appeared at hospitals to share information of such assaults on law enforcement officials.

On Jan. 1, 2022, a New York Metropolis police officer was shot whereas sleeping in a automobile exterior a station home in East Harlem, hours after Mr. Adams was sworn in as the town’s mayor.

And some weeks later, a single bullet fired by an armed teenager struck a police officer and the gunman as they scuffled throughout a confrontation within the Bronx.

Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.