THE BRONX — As the manhunt continued for the suspects who shot off-duty cop Ivan Marcano, the NYPD released a dramatic video showing a wounded Marcano trading gunfire with the suspects, then flagging down a nearby ambulance.
Marcano, 27, was recovering from his wounds at Bronx Lebanon Hospital on Thursday while cops searched for the two suspects who fled the scene after Marcano was shot. A third suspect was shot in the head and died during the gun battle at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
The video footage shows Marcano holding one hand to the gunshot wound on his chest while he fires at the suspects in the middle of a busy street, a move Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called "a remarkable display of marksmanship and cool under fire.”
Moments later the wounded Marcano is seen on the video flagging down a nearby ambulance for a ride to the hospital.
Bronx resident Marcano was in a car on Harrison Avenue with his girlfriend when they witnessed a group of men robbing another man on the street, Kelly said during a press conference held late Wednesday.
Marcano, who joined the NYPD in 2007 and was assigned to Transit District 12, told his girlfriend to call 911 and then stepped out of the car and identified himself as a police officer.
“As soon as he did, one of the suspects fired,” Kelly said.
Marcano, who was not wearing a bulletproof vest, was struck in the chest. The two suspects fled in a Mustang, where a third suspect, the driver, was waiting, Kelly said.
The three suspects drove one block north, to the corner of Burnside and Harrison avenues, where they struck a livery cab and exited the car. Marcano, who was behind the suspects in his own vehicle, got out of his car and pursued them on foot.
Marcano took cover behind a livery cab and, with one hand on his weapon and another clutching his wounded chest, fired on the suspects.
The suspect who was shot in the head and killed has not been identified. The remaining two suspects fled. A semiautomatic handgun was recovered from the scene, Kelly added.
"We are looking aggressively for the two other individuals," Kelly said Wednesday.
Marcano then happened upon an ambulance parked on Burnside Avenue, and the driver gave him a ride to Bronx Lebanon Hospital. The bullet missed any vital organs, and Marcano is expected to make a quick recovery, Kelly said.
Marcano is the 12th NYPD officer who has been shot this year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, and the second officer shot this week.
