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Police Shoot Armed Man Inside South Jamaica Housing Project, NYPD Says

 Two officers patrolling the Baisley Park Houses shot an armed Jamel Etheridge, 38, police said. A .9mm Smith & Wesson handgun was found at the scene.
Two officers patrolling the Baisley Park Houses shot an armed Jamel Etheridge, 38, police said. A .9mm Smith & Wesson handgun was found at the scene.
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NYPD

QUEENS — Two police officers on patrol inside a South Jamaica housing project Friday night shot an armed man in the leg, the NYPD said.

A uniformed housing officer and a plainclothed lieutenant patrolling the Baisley Park Houses in South Jamaica about 9:20 p.m. Friday exited the second-floor stairwell when they saw Jamel Etheridge, 38, holding a black .9mm Smith & Wesson handgun, police said.

Police told the man to drop his gun, then fired, according to Assistant Chief David Barrere, Queens South commanding officer.

"During this encounter, both the lieutenant and the police officer fired their weapons, striking the perpetrator one time in the left leg," Barrere said in prepared remarks.

The loaded gun was recovered at the scene, police said.

Etheridge was previously convicted on an attempted murder charge, according to state records. He has also been arrested multiple times for criminal possession of a firearm, Barrere said.

He was taken to Jamaica Hospital in stable condition, Barrere said. Both the lieutenant and the housing officer were taken to an area hospital for evaluation, he added.

Charges against Etheridge were pending as of Saturday morning, and an investigation by the NYPD's Force Investigation Division is ongoing, police said.

The police practice of vertical patrols, in which officers start at the roof of a public housing building and walk the stairwells, has been a controversial one, with supporters calling it an important policing tool and critics like Al Sharpton calling the practice "far too similar to Stop-and-Frisk." 

In November 2014, ex-NYPD Officer Peter Liang was arrested after shooting an unarmed man in the stairwell of the Pink Houses in East New York. He was convicted of manslaughter by a jury in February, but his charges were later reduced to criminally negligent homicide in April. 

There are also questions about the safety of the officers who patrol the stairwells. In February, two officers were shot in the sixth-floor stairwell of the Melrose Houses by a man who later turned the gun on himself, allegedly committing suicide because he didn't want to go back to prison. Both officers were taken to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has supported the practice, calling it a necessary part of preventing crime in public housing.

"Every police officer knows there are dangers," de Blasio said in February. "And I admire each and every one of them for doing such important work in the face of those dangers."