WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Two men were charged with attempted murder after plainclothes officers saw them shoot another man from their car in the early hours of Saturday morning, police said.
Joshua Monsanto, 21, of New Rochelle, and Hugo Rodriguez, 19, of The Bronx, were arrested after officers watched them open fire on the 21-year-old victim near 172nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue shortly before 4 a.m., the NYPD said.
The victim, who was struck in the right thigh, was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital and is in stable condition, police said.
Three plainclothes officers from the 33rd Precinct were patrolling early Saturday morning when they saw a silver Honda Accord with dark tinted windows traveling eastbound on West 172nd Street, police said. Officers Ruben Pagan, James Burke and Jonathan Rivera then followed the car in an unmarked vehicle, the NYPD said.
The Accord stopped at the intersection of 172nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, where the car’s occupants got into an argument with a man walking on 172nd Street, the NYPD said.
Rodriguez, the passenger, pulled a gun from inside the vehicle and shot the man one time in the leg, police said. The Accord then turned south onto Amsterdam with the officers in pursuit.
Monsanto, the driver, stopped the vehicle at Amsterdam Avenue and 171st Street, where officers searched the car and found a .22 caliber Berretta in the backseat, police said.
Monsanto and Rodriguez were arrested without incident and face charges of with attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon and assault, the NYPD said.
Neither Rodriguez nor Monsanto's attornies immediately responded to requests for comment.
Both men are currently being held at the Manhattan Detention Complex on $350,000 bail, court documents show.
They are due back in court on March 5.
