Rampage in Jersey City Leaves Five Police Officers Shot
JERSEY CITY, NJ (AP / WCBS 880) -- Five police officers were shot, two of them critically wounded, in a shootout that broke out Thursday morning during a police stakeout of two armed robbery suspects in New Jersey's second-largest city.
The two suspects were also killed in the shootout in Jersey City, authorities said.
According to Mayor Jerramiah Healy, the ``terrible gunfight'' started in the street but moved to a nearby apartment building.
The incident started just after 5 a.m., when authorities say two officers were watching a vehicle used in an armed robbery last month in which a man was shot in the stomach. The robbery suspects, a man and a woman, were preparing to move the parked vehicle when the shootout began.
The man pulled out a pump-action shotgun and fired at the marked police car, blowing out the windshield, and a bullet grazed the leg of one of the officers.
``This individual came fully ready to go to war with us,'' said Police Chief Tom Comey. ``This is not a normal shotgun. ... This is a gun meant for nothing other than to hunt a man.''
Comey said the suspects ran into the apartment building and barricaded themselves inside as Jersey City and Port Authority SWAT units swarmed the scene and followed them inside.
``People inside started firing through the door and wall,'' Healy said.
When the bullets stopped, both suspects were dead and four other officers were wounded.
The most seriously injured officer was shot in the face. Comey said the 38-year-old officer was in cardiac arrest when he arrived at Jersey City Medical Center but has since stabilized.
Another officer hit in the neck was also in critical but stable condition at the hospital.
A fourth officer was hit in the chest but his bulletproof vest absorbed the gunfire, and a Port Authority officer called in to assist was shot in the arm.
Authorities said three other officers were treated at the hospital for minor injuries that were not caused by gunfire. They did not provide details on those injuries.
No names have been released.
Residents of the apartment complex where the shooting occurred said they awoke to the sounds of gunfire and police running down their hallways.
Marlon Harrison said he was awakened by the sounds of gunshots echoing off the alley wall outside his second-floor apartment window.
``It was like the Army out there,'' Harrison said.
Richard Pratt, who lives on the building's third floor, said he heard gunshots and looked out his peephole into the hall when police officers then pushed their way through his apartment. They yelled at him to get down, said they were looking for suspects, and then left.
The street where the shooting took place remained roped off with police tape Wednesday as police checked a weed-strewn vacant lot nearby for bullets.
Photo: Suspect Hassan Shakur/Marla Diamond
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Audio Content and Graphic Content Copyright 2009 WCBS-AM 880.
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According to Mayor Jerramiah Healy, the ``terrible gunfight'' started in the street but moved to a nearby apartment building.
