A reward is being offered in the manhunt for a gunman who shot a tourist in the leg and fired at an NYPD officer after an attempted shoplifting at a Times Square sporting goods store Thursday night, according to police.
NYPD Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $13,500 for information on the “attempted murder of an NYC police officer,” according to the reward poster.
“We need the public’s help to identify and locate this individual before he hurts anyone else. He already shot an innocent person and tried to murder a NYC Police Officer,” Crime Stoppers said.
The incident began just after 7 p.m. at a store near Broadway and West 41st Street in Midtown, a police official told NBC New York. At least two individuals went inside the JD Sports sporting goods store on Broadway and went upstairs. They started shoving clothes into a shopping bag before they went back downstairs, police said.
A loss prevention officer went up to the pair and took the bag from them. As the guard was talking with him, one of the two, wearing all white, pulled out a gun and fired, according to police.
The bullets missed the security officer, but struck a Brazilian tourist in the leg above the knee, the source said. The victim, a 37-year-old woman shopping at the store, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was expected to recover.
The duo took off, ending up at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue where two officers spotted them. One of the individuals was apprehended, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said, while the other fled toward Sixth Avenue. The first individual was later released, law enforcement sources said Friday.
NBC New York
Midway down that block, the second suspect went into a cutout between two buildings, including the Fox Corporation headquarters, then turned and fired one shot at the officer giving chase. As he continued to run, he fired again at the officer from under his arm. The officer did not return fire either time.
The area was too crowded for police to fire at the suspect and they would have risked hitting bystanders, Chell said.
Police said the suspected gunman dumped his white jacket, which could be seen lying Thursday night on a shutdown Sixth Avenue.
The suspect ran into the Rockefeller Center subway at 46th Street and Sixth Avenue and went onto the tracks. He later left the station, but police did not know where he went after that.
“We are looking for one male, he is your shooter, he shot at our cops not once, but twice and also shot an innocent female one time in the leg,” Chell said.
The NYPD released two images of the suspected gunman.
“He must be caught,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey in a post on X.
NBC New York also obtained additional surveillance images of the suspect.
NBC New York
NBC New York
No injuries to the officers were reported.
A large swath of midtown streets were closed for hours amid the chaos, with police telling people to avoid the area between 47th and 51st street along 6th Avenue for much of Thursday evening. Sixth Avenue did not reopen until after 10 p.m. The department also said a police presence could be expected in Times Square, and traffic delays were likely.
An investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
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