2 U.S. Marshals, NYPD Officer Shot In West Village Neighborhood Of NYC

2 U.S. Marshals, NYPD Officer Shot In West Village

Two U.S. Marshals and one New York Police Department detective were shot in the West Village, The Daily News reports.

The incident occurred at the intersection of West Fourth and Jones Street at 1 p.m.

The officers were transported to Bellevue Hospital where they are in stable condition.

"The suspect who they were seeking to engage is deceased and a firearm has been recovered," Police Commissioner William Bratton said at an unrelated press conference.

NYPD choppers buzzing overhead where two law enforcement officers were shot in the Village pic.twitter.com/juJgEUHkgx

— Danielle Tcholakian (@danielleiat) July 28, 2014

DNAinfo reports the three law enforcement officers were attempting to arrest the suspect. He has been identified as 32-year-old Charles Mozdir from San Diego.

Speaking at the scene, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association said Mozdir was wanted on child molestation charges.

Eight days ago, Mozdir was featured on CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh,” a new show by the former host of "America's Most Wanted." According to CNN, a phone tip received during the show was the first strong lead about Mozdir's whereabouts investigators had in more than two years.

MORE FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS:

NEW YORK (AP) — A fugitive task force and a sex-assault suspect got into a shootout Monday in Greenwich Village, leaving the suspect dead and two federal marshals and a police detective wounded, authorities said.

(The wounded officers were in stable condition, Police Commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters.

“We pray everything we are hearing is true and that these officers will be OK in the long run,” de Blasio said. The law enforcement officials’ exact injuries were unclear.

The suspect was identified by federal and police officials as Charles Richard Mozdir, who was wanted in a California case. His weapon had been recovered, the mayor and commissioner said.

The shooting happened just after 1 p.m. in the West Village not far from New York University when a fugitive apprehension task force tried to serve a warrant to Mozdir, who was inside a smoke shop just north of a busy subway station.

A $1 million bench warrant was issued for Mozdir’s arrest on June 15, 2012, after he skipped an arraignment in San Diego Superior Court on child sexual assault charges, according to Steve Walker, a spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney. He had posted $250,000 bail.

Mozdir was wanted on five counts of lewd acts upon a child younger than 14 and a charge of attempting to keep a witness from prosecuting a crime, according to the criminal complaint.

His case had recently been featured on CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh.” Mozdir was accused of abusing a young boy while babysitting him and authorities later found evidence of child pornography and bestiality on his cellphone and computers, according to the show’s website, quoting federal authorities.

Authorities have searched for him in Coronado, Georgia, California and Mexico, according to the show.

The fugitive task force seeks absconders from other states, Bratton said. He declined to comment to reporters at the scene Monday.

The violence recalled a deadly shootout that left a gunman and two auxiliary New York City police officers dead on another Greenwich Village street in March 2007.

That gunman, David Garvin, killed a bartender, according to police, and then turned crowded streets packed with storied taverns into a shooting gallery. Unarmed volunteer officers Eugene Marshalik and Nicholas Todd Pekearo were killed.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot