NEW YORK -- A New York Police Department sergeant died after a shootout with a home-invasion suspect in the Bronx on Friday, and a second sergeant was injured but is in stable condition, officials said.
Police shot and killed the gunman, identified as Manuel Rosales, 35, after initially trying to arrest him in his vehicle, officials said. Rosales was pronounced dead at the scene.
The slain sergeant was identified as Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran, who was proclaimed dead after being taken to Jacobi Hospital. The wounded sergeant was identified as Sgt. Emmanuel Kwo, a 9-year veteran. Both appeared to belong to NYPD's 43rd precinct.
Multiple officers were involved in the incident and it's not clear yet if either of the sergeants shot at Rosales, NYPD Commissioner James P. O'Neill said at a televised news conference at Jacobi Hospital.
"It was close quarters when the weapons were fired," O'Neill said.
Officers were trying to arrest Rosales after receiving a 911 call at 2:45 p.m., in which a woman reported that Rosales had broken into his estranged wife's home with a gun Friday afternoon and then fled in a red Jeep, O'Neill said. Seven minutes later, a patrol car spotted Rosales' Jeep half a mile away, O'Neill said.
"There's nothing worse than a day like today," O'Neill said.
Rosales had 17 prior arrests in Suffolk County, where he lived, O'Neill said.
The shooting comes two days after two Iowa police officers were ambushed and killed on the outskirts of Des Moines.
With the sergeant's death, 53 police officers have now been shot and killed in the line of duty so far in 2016, according to figures from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
That's a dramatic increase of more than 50% over the same period last year, though over the past decade it has been common for the annual total to rise and fall dramatically from year to year, with no clear up-or-down trend.
Los Angeles Times
Tribune News Service
