Police arrive at scene where plainclothes Officer Brian Moore was shot.
Chaos erupted on the streets of Queens Saturday when a gunman reportedly with a long rap sheet opened fire on two plainclothes police officers, striking one of them in the head, the police said.
The shooting happened a little after 6pm pm.
Officers Brian Moore, 25, and his partner, Erik Jansen, were in an unmarked police car on patrol when they spotted a man at the intersection of 212TH Street and 104th Avenue fiddling around with something in his waist pants, the police said.
The two officers pulled up to the suspect and began questioning him at which time, the suspect opened fire on the two officers before either could get out of the car and return fire, the police said.
According to the police, Officer Moore, who was in the driver’s seat, was struck in the head. The bullet exited through his face. Officer Jansen was not injured.
Fellow officers immediately rushed Officer Moore to Jamaica Hospital where he was listed in critical condition.
About an hour and a half after the shooting, police found and arrested suspect Demetrius Blackwell, 35, of Queens Village during an intense manhunt, the police said.
Police did not recover the gun used in the shooting at the scene.
Officer Moore is a four-year veteran of the force and comes from a family of law enforcement. He was assigned to the 105th Precinct after completing his training at the Police Academy.
Moore is the fifth police officer to be shot in the line of duty over the last several months.
Officers Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32, were executed on Dec. 20 while sitting in their patrol car outside a Brooklyn housing project, the police said, and on Jan. 5, two plainclothes cops were shot in the Bronx while responding to a grocery store robbery, the police said.
The officers — Andrew Dossi, 30, and Aliro Pellerano, 38 — were approaching a suspect when his accomplice opened fire, the police said.
