Global General

Police officer shot, suspect killed in NYC

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-23 03:25

NEW YORK: A police officer was shot and seriously wounded and his assailant killed in New York City on Monday, a police spokeswoman said.

The officer was shot twice shortly after noon Eastern Time in the Morrisania Heights section of the Bronx at a public housing site, the spokeswoman told Xinhua. He was taken to Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx where he underwent emergency surgery.

Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City.

The unidentified assailant was later found dead at the scene of the officer's shooting.

It was not immediately determined if the alleged perpetrator was shot by the officer, reportedly on the force only three years, or died of a self-inflicted wound, the spokeswoman said.

There had been reports a wounded suspect was barricaded in one of the housing units at the site.

Before leaving City Hall for the hospital where the officer was taken, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters: "We just don't know how serious it is going to be."