Three law-enforcement officers executing a warrant as part of the federal Fugitive Task Force were injured in a shooting on Monday afternoon at West 4th Street near Sixth Avenue in the West Village. According to NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, who spoke at a previously scheduled press conference with Mayor de Blasio, the suspect is deceased and a firearm was recovered. The officers, two U.S. Marshals and one NYPD detective, were transported to Bellevue Hospital and are in stable condition.
“It appears that the injuries to the officers are not life threatening,” said Mayor de Blasio.
DNAinfo reporter Danielle Tcholakian, who has photos from the crime scene, reports that the shooting occurred inside the head shop Smoking Culture.
We’ll update as more details become available.
Update, 3:20 p.m.: The suspect has been identified as Charles Mozdir, who was wanted for child molestation in California. On July 17, Mozdir was featured on CNN’s The Hunt With John Walsh, and a tip after the show aired led authorities to Manhattan, the New York Post reports.
He’s been missing since the summer of 2012, according to CNN:
The Coronado Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service searched for Mozdir in Georgia and California, as well as the Mexican state of Baja California. On June 20, 2012, Coronado police found Mozdir’s abandoned vehicle hidden in the brush outside the coastal Georgia town of Darien. The license plate had been ripped off and there was an extra gas tank inside. A bloodhound picked up Mozdir’s scent near U.S. Highway 17. There has been no sign of Mozdir since.
He is considered a threat. “Certainly I believe that he is out there right now harming children and harming other people, I absolutely believe that,” said Steve Jurman, a supervisory deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service. Mozdir was last seen in San Diego by his sister with his dog, a black lab named Lucky. He has search and rescue and EMT training, and may be able to live off the land for extended periods of time.
Mozdir was shot 10 times, DNA Info reports. The Times has more on the officers:
The detective was shot twice in the torso, one marshal was shot in the buttocks and the other was shot in the shoulder, according to Stephen Davis, a spokesman for the Police Department.
Update, 5:50 p.m.: DNA Info adds that law enforcement “tracked Mozdir through his cell phone as he worked in the the West 4th Street shop on Monday.” He allegedly opened fire when they attempted to arrest him.
This post has been updated throughout.
