NEW YORK CITY — Cops arrested a man in Staten Island who was wanted in connection to the July 4th shooting that wounded a rookie officer, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Wednesday.
The man, who goes by the name "40," was carrying two 9mm. handguns when officers arrested him Wednesday while executing a warrant connected to a July 4th shooting in the Cypress Hills Houses, Kelly said during an unrelated press conference.
Officer Jamil Sarwar and his partner were racing to a nearby shooting in the housing complex about 10:45 p.m. when another shooting sent a bullet into his right thigh.
It was not immediately clear to which of the two shootings the suspect was connected or how.
Officer Sarwar was not the intended target, Kelly said, but police were still trying to determine what sparked the shootings.
The holiday night turned violent when officers saw a man shoot someone, police said. Other officers gave chase and radioed for backup, cops said.
Sarwar and his partner were on their regular foot patrol in the area when they heard and ran over, police said.
But then a shooter on the roof of one of the apartment buildings blasted the officers, hitting Sarwar in the leg, Kelly said.
"We don't believe, at this time, that the officer was the intended target," the commissioner said.
Both shooters evaded capture, but Kelly said investigators have made substantial progress.
After the shooting, police descended on the East New York housing complex, near Linden Boulevard and Fountain Avenue, and executed several warrants there Wednesday, Kelly said.
Earlier, police released surveillance footage of several men wanted in connection to the shooting. One of the men can be seen pointing a handgun.
"We continue to gather information about the incident," Kelly said. "The facts are starting to be developed."
Officer Sarwar, who joined the NYPD about a year and a half ago, was in good spirits while recovering in Jamaica Hospital, Kelly said during another press conference Tuesday.
