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NYPD officer shot by 'sniper' as hundreds of police put Brooklyn housing project on lock-down to find gunman


  • Officer shot in the leg after responding to call at housing project
  • Area put on lock-down while hundreds of police officers search for 'sniper'
  • Not clear whether he was deliberately shot or caught in crossfire

By Sara Malm
PUBLISHED: 04:31 EST, 5 July 2013 | UPDATED: 07:17 EST, 5 July 2013

'Sniper attack': Police officer Jamil Sarwar was shot in the leg by an unknown gunman in Brooklyn

A New York police officer was shot ‘by a sniper’ while on patrol in a Brooklyn housing project on Thursday night.
Officer Jamil Sarwar was on foot patrol at the Cypress Hills Houses in East New York when he was shot once in the leg, police officials said.
The 30-year-old policeman and his partner came under fire while responding to a radio call reporting shots fired in the housing block.
Shortly afterwards the area, known for violent gang activity, was put under virtual lockdown by hundreds of police officers.
NYPD carried out a door-to-door search for a ‘sniper’ following reports that the shots appeared to have been fired from one of the houses, possibly from a rooftop.
An estimated 60 police cars, nine NYPD crime-scene trucks, and helicopters arrived at the scene and a resident told the New York Post that he had ‘never seen so many cops’
It is not clear whether the officer was deliberately targeted or was hit by crossfire.
‘He was shot by a sniper,’ a law-enforcement source told the New York Post.
Another source told the paper they believe the injury was intentional.

‘They were standing together. It’s a well-lit area. They had to know they were shooting at cops,’ a law enforcement source said.
The incident took place late Thursday night after Officer Sarwar and his partner responded to a call from an officer in an elevated surveillance tower who reported two people shooting at each other, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a press conference.

Injury: An NYPD officer was shot in the leg 'by a sniper' at a housing block in Brooklyn late Thursday night (file photo)


Action: Dozens of police cars as well as crime scene trucks and helicopters were called to the scene to put the area under lockdown while officers searched for the shooter (file photo)

Officer Sarwar and his partner Javier Solos arrived at the housing complex when they heard a further ‘two or three shots’ fired.
‘When they are inside, they realize that officer Sawar had been shot in the right thigh,’ Commissioner Kelly said.
‘He’s very lucky. He could have been struck at any part of his body and the other officer with him also could have been struck.’
The officer was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in stable condition, and his injuries were not considered life-threatening. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ck-gunman.html