A New York Police Department (NYPD) cop was fatally shot early Sunday shortly after midnight during a hand-to-hand combat struggle with an armed suspect.
Officer Brian Mulkeen, 33, was fatally shot three times in the head, chest, and legs with his own weapon while he wrestled with the suspect on the ground in the Bronx, the New York Post reported.
Mulkeen, a six-year veteran of the NYPD, was then taken to a local hospital where doctors tried to save his life. But Mulkeen did not survive and died from his wounds.
The suspect was also fatally shot, with five other members of the NYPD firing their “service weapons” to strike the man, Chief of Department Terence Monahan told reporters.
The deadly encounter began shortly after 12:30 a.m. as Mulkeen and two other plainclothes officers exited their vehicle to speak with a suspected gang member.
Mulkeen and two other officers had been investigating gang activity at a public housing complex in the Bronx, where several shootings had taken place, ABC News reported.
The suspect began to flee on foot, but Mulkeen caught up with him and tackled him to the ground.
“Officer Mulkeen was on the ground wrestling with the suspect for an extended period of time,” before gunshots were fired, Monahan said.
The 27-year-old gunman— who had been on probation for a 2018 narcotics arrest and had a burglary conviction from Rockland County— was pronounced dead at the scene.
USA Today reported that Mulkeen is the second NYPD officer to die in the line of duty in 2019. The first officer, Detective Brian Simonsen, who served 19 years on the force, was responding to a robbery in February when his colleagues accidentally shot him.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.