A party in the South Bronx spiraled into violence early Saturday, leading first to a big, bloody fight and eventually the shooting of a New York police officer.
Officers responded around 2 a.m. to multiple calls about a fight at an unlicensed club where between 100 to 200 people had gathered for a party, said Police Commissioner William Bratton. The fight, involving people with “guns, bats and knives” started inside before spilling into the streets, Bratton said.
Officers arrived and got into a shootout with a 19-year-old male suspect, who shot New York police Officer Sherrod Stuart in the right ankle; Stuart fired back and shot the suspect four times, the commissioner said.
Stuart, a 25-year-old who marked his fourth year in the department on Saturday, was in stable condition Saturday at Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx.
“He had distinguished himself already. In this situation, he distinguished himself further with his quick thinking and his brave actions,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a Saturday morning news conference with Bratton. “And thank God his injuries were not life threatening.”
The 19-year-old was in serious condition at the same hospital. Bratton said he’d been arrested five times before, the latest coming the morning before the shooting. He had been released from custody at 11 p.m. Friday, about three hours before the brawl broke out.
Bratton said that five stabbing victims from that fight were taken to local hospitals. He didn’t disclose their conditions.