Rob Bennett for The New York Times
Outside the building, right, where Officer Robert Salerno was shot in the South Bronx.
By RAY RIVERA
Published: March 22, 2010
A police officer was hit at least three times in a shootout on Monday while responding to a 911 call at a housing project in the South Bronx, but was apparently saved by his bullet-resistant vest, law enforcement officials said.
Outside the building, right, where Officer Robert Salerno was shot in the South Bronx.
By RAY RIVERA
Published: March 22, 2010
A police officer was hit at least three times in a shootout on Monday while responding to a 911 call at a housing project in the South Bronx, but was apparently saved by his bullet-resistant vest, law enforcement officials said.
New York City Police Department
Officer Robert Salerno, 25, was in serious but stable condition on Monday night.
Officer Robert Salerno, 25, was in serious but stable condition on Monday night.
The gunman was later found dead with a bullet wound to his temple in the bedroom where the shootout took place, though it was unclear whether the police had shot him or he had shot himself, officials said.
The officer, Robert Salerno, 25, was in serious but stable condition at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center on Monday night. He was expected to survive, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference at the hospital.
Officer Salerno was shot once in the chest and twice in the lower abdomen and may have been struck a fourth time in his utility belt, officials said. His vest blocked the shot to the chest.
“The vest probably saved his life,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at the news conference.
The man who shot the officer, Santiago Urena, 57, died of a gunshot wound, Mr. Kelly said. Officers fired 21 rounds at Mr. Urena after he opened fire at them from a bedroom in a second-floor apartment at 3073 Park Avenue in the Morrisania Air Rights houses, the authorities said.
Mr. Kelly said the location of the fatal wound indicated that it might have been self-inflicted, but the police are waiting for a medical examiner’s report to determine who fired the fatal shot and whether Mr. Urena had received any other wounds.
At the news conference, which Gov. David A. Paterson attended, the commissioner held up Officer Salerno’s vest with a bullet hole clearly visible below the right breast. The other shots struck just below the vest, he said.
Mr. Kelly said Mr. Urena was unemployed, lived in the apartment with his elderly mother and had no known criminal record. A .38-caliber revolver with four of its five chambers empty was lodged under his body, which was found face down on the bedroom floor, officials said.
The police arrived just after noon on Monday after receiving a 911 call from a home health aide who was taking care of Mr. Urena’s 91-year-old mother, officials said. Two police cars from the 44th Precinct met the woman in front of the building. A police official said Mr. Urena apparently became annoyed because the health aide was talking on the phone to her husband in the Dominican Republic. In a mix of Spanish and broken English, she told them that Mr. Urena had threatened her with a gun, according to a neighbor who said he translated the worker’s complaints.
“She said the guy was disrespecting her, trying to rap to her,” said the neighbor, Jimmy Molina, using a term for making sexual advances. “She was telling him that he knows she’s married and she has a husband in Santo Domingo.”
Mr. Molina said the woman then told the police that Mr. Urena struck her, knocked her to the ground and pulled out a gun, saying, “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you.”
Mr. Kelly said the suspect’s older brother, Demetrio Urena, led Officer Salerno and three other officers up to the apartment and told them that Santiago Urena was in a bedroom. The officers ordered him out, but he refused, and when the officers opened the door, Mr. Urena opened fire, Mr. Kelly said.
Officer Salerno, the first through the door, was hit three or four times. He returned fire, emptying his magazine of 16 bullets. The other officers got off a total of five shots as they dragged him out of the building, where he was taken away by ambulance.
A Police Department Emergency Services Unit arrived at the apartment a short time later and found Mr. Urena lying dead on the bedroom floor, Mr. Kelly said.
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said Mr. Urena’s mother, Ana Urena, was taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure and was not wounded.
Mr. Kelly said Officer Salerno joined the force in January 2007 and had been with the 44th Precinct since that June. He was the first officer shot in the line of duty this year. Officials called his actions courageous. “This was clearly a very dangerous situation,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
Colin Moynihan and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/nyregion/23copshot.html
The officer, Robert Salerno, 25, was in serious but stable condition at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center on Monday night. He was expected to survive, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference at the hospital.
Officer Salerno was shot once in the chest and twice in the lower abdomen and may have been struck a fourth time in his utility belt, officials said. His vest blocked the shot to the chest.
“The vest probably saved his life,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at the news conference.
The man who shot the officer, Santiago Urena, 57, died of a gunshot wound, Mr. Kelly said. Officers fired 21 rounds at Mr. Urena after he opened fire at them from a bedroom in a second-floor apartment at 3073 Park Avenue in the Morrisania Air Rights houses, the authorities said.
Mr. Kelly said the location of the fatal wound indicated that it might have been self-inflicted, but the police are waiting for a medical examiner’s report to determine who fired the fatal shot and whether Mr. Urena had received any other wounds.
At the news conference, which Gov. David A. Paterson attended, the commissioner held up Officer Salerno’s vest with a bullet hole clearly visible below the right breast. The other shots struck just below the vest, he said.
Mr. Kelly said Mr. Urena was unemployed, lived in the apartment with his elderly mother and had no known criminal record. A .38-caliber revolver with four of its five chambers empty was lodged under his body, which was found face down on the bedroom floor, officials said.
The police arrived just after noon on Monday after receiving a 911 call from a home health aide who was taking care of Mr. Urena’s 91-year-old mother, officials said. Two police cars from the 44th Precinct met the woman in front of the building. A police official said Mr. Urena apparently became annoyed because the health aide was talking on the phone to her husband in the Dominican Republic. In a mix of Spanish and broken English, she told them that Mr. Urena had threatened her with a gun, according to a neighbor who said he translated the worker’s complaints.
“She said the guy was disrespecting her, trying to rap to her,” said the neighbor, Jimmy Molina, using a term for making sexual advances. “She was telling him that he knows she’s married and she has a husband in Santo Domingo.”
Mr. Molina said the woman then told the police that Mr. Urena struck her, knocked her to the ground and pulled out a gun, saying, “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you.”
Mr. Kelly said the suspect’s older brother, Demetrio Urena, led Officer Salerno and three other officers up to the apartment and told them that Santiago Urena was in a bedroom. The officers ordered him out, but he refused, and when the officers opened the door, Mr. Urena opened fire, Mr. Kelly said.
Officer Salerno, the first through the door, was hit three or four times. He returned fire, emptying his magazine of 16 bullets. The other officers got off a total of five shots as they dragged him out of the building, where he was taken away by ambulance.
A Police Department Emergency Services Unit arrived at the apartment a short time later and found Mr. Urena lying dead on the bedroom floor, Mr. Kelly said.
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said Mr. Urena’s mother, Ana Urena, was taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure and was not wounded.
Mr. Kelly said Officer Salerno joined the force in January 2007 and had been with the 44th Precinct since that June. He was the first officer shot in the line of duty this year. Officials called his actions courageous. “This was clearly a very dangerous situation,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
Colin Moynihan and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/nyregion/23copshot.html
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