NEW YORK — A person of interest connected to the shooting of a rookie NYPD officer in Queens on Wednesday has been taken into custody, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
The individual was detained in The Bronx on Thursday night by agents and officers from the US Marshals task force and the New York-New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, high-ranking police sources told our sister chain. NBC New York.
The person has not yet been identified and it was not clear if they were the same person shown in images released by the police department Wednesday night. It comes after the reward was increased to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of the man who shot 22-year-old officer Brett Boller after a disruption on an MTA bus.
Police had already detained one person for questioning in connection with the mid-afternoon shooting near 161st Street and Jamaica Avenue, but police were still searching for the gunman who allegedly shot one of their own.
According to the NYPD, the chaos Wednesday began aboard an MTA bus heading east on Jamaica Avenue around 3:30 p.m. The driver got out to flag down two police officers and reported that a man and another passenger were fighting over a seat. The officers approached the bus just as a man ran out the front door, pushing them out of the way, authorities said.
Boller was able to reach the man and a brief struggle ensued, authorities said. The man then fired a shot, striking the officer near the right hip. The other officer then fired two shots, but it was unclear if the suspect was hit. He took off down 161st Street and west on 88th Avenue to a parking lot. He was last seen near Hillside Avenue.
The gun used to shoot Boller, who had only been on the job for three months, has not been recovered. The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment and is expected to be okay. He is 22 years old.
“He was where our communities tell us they want their officers to be, standing on a step,” New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference shortly after the shooting. “He was stopped by a community member who needed help. He was taking police action, then he was shot.”
Cell phone video of the scene showed the frantic moments as fellow officers carried the wounded officer to safety.
Police released multiple surveillance images of the suspect (below).
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-57-PISTA.
