FBI terrorism investigators have joined New York police looking into possible extremist ties of a man who shot and wounded two city police officers early Saturday in Brooklyn, law enforcement officials said.
The two officers suffered non-life threatening injuries when they were struck about 3:20 a.m. in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said. They were treated at Brookyln’s Kings County Hospital and were in stable condition, he said.
The 34-year-old man who allegedly shot them — identified by Bratton as Jamal Funes — was wounded as police returned fire. He was in critical condition at Brookdale Hospital.
Funes was known as Fredrick Funes before he converted to Islam while serving time in prison, according to a law enforcement official. Investigators are looking into his ties to other people suspected of being radicalized, a law enforcement official said.
Bratton said the two officers heard a gunshot near the intersection of Quincy Street and Malcolm X Boulevard. They approached the suspect, who pointed a gun at them and fled in a vehicle, he said.
Eight officers in three cars pursued, with the suspect ramming one of the vehicles during the chase, Bratton said. The suspect fired from his vehicle and hit the two officers in their vehicle, Bratton said.
“Multiple officers fired at the suspect, striking him multiple times,” Bratton said.
A .357-caliber revolver with five spent shell casings was found in the front seat of the suspect’s car, he said.
One officer was struck in the chest area of his protective vest. Bratton said the bullet did not penetrate the vest and the officer suffered blunt-force trauma. The second officer was struck below the vest line and the bullet entered his right hip.
“This morning is a reminder of the important and dangerous and crucial work that our police officers do, and the way they put their lives on the line for us every single day,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters. “And that is why this city is kept safe, because these men and women step up for us.”
Police in Philadelphia said they were investigating whether a man who shot and wounded an officer January 7 had ties to a group with radical beliefs.
Suspect Edward Archer allegedly told police after he ambushed Officer Jesse Hartnett that he had pledged allegiance to the ISIS terror group, according to Capt. James Clark, commander of the police homicide unit.
Hartnett was shot three times in the arm while sitting in his patrol car. Images released by police from surveillance video show the gunman — wearing an ankle-length, white garment — on a crosswalk taking aim and firing at the patrol car at close range.
