One of the two NYPD officers shot during a Bronx gunfight Wednesday night was released from the hospital Thursday.
Officer Alejandra Jacobs left St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx to cheers from dozens of police officers. She waved from her wheelchair with what appeared to be a smile underneath her blue surgical mask.
“It is a blessing she’s going to be able to walk out,” said Chief of Department Rodney Harrison just before her release. “Officer Jacobs has one year on the job, putting her life on the line to engage an individual that’s carrying an illegal firearm….I’m just so happy to see that she’s doing fine and that she’s going to be able to be home and enjoy her turkey with her loved ones.”
Jacobs was shot twice and “returned fire five times, striking the assailant,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a news conference late Wednesday.
Jacobs had been shot in the arm, police spokesman Sgt. Anwar Ishmael said.
Police had responded to reports of a man with a firearm, and upon approaching a 23-year-old man sitting on the steps of a residence on Beaumont Avenue near 187th Street, the man opened fire, Shea said.
The other officer was shot once underneath his left armpit, with the bullet exiting through the left side of his chest, Shea said. He remained hospitalized. Police identified him as 8-year veteran Officer Robert Holmes.
Police did not reveal the officers’ hometowns but said neither lives on Long Island.
“His injuries are a little bit more troubling than hers,” said Harrison, who called Holmes an “absolute hero, engaging an individual that carried a firearm that just shot his partner.”
It was unclear when he will be released, Harrison said.
The suspect also remains hospitalized, in serious but stable condition, Ishmael said.
Harrison said the investigation is still preliminary.
“He’ll have to do some serious jail time for what he did trying to hurt two of our police officers,” he said.
The suspect’s gun was stolen in Georgia and “made its way to New York City to cause carnage on our streets,” Shea said.
The suspect had been previously arrested nine times on weapons, burglary, robbery and other charges, Ishmael said.
With Anthony M. DeStefano and Howard Schnapp
