Two teenage brothers have been arrested and charged with attempted murder after the shooting of an NYPD cop in Harlem last Saturday, the second time this year that minors have faced charges for shooting an officer.
The shooting took place in the vicinity of West 126th Street and Broadway around 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 5.
The off-duty officer was departing from a community vigil held at the Manhattanville Houses when "he saw two individuals begin to fire rounds from a gun," Chief of Housing Jeffrey Maddrey said at a press conference last week.
Early Saturday morning the NYPD confirmed the arrest of two boys, 16 and 17, on a variety of charges. Their names were not released due to their age, but a law enforcement official confirmed they are brothers and that they have an extensive record, with 16 prior arrests between them.
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In total, seven NYPD officers have been shot so far this year in six separate incidents, two of them fatally. A teenager was implicated in another of those shootings, of a a cop in the Bronx in January. The accused shooter in that case was later controversially released on bond.
Three of the six shootings this year happened in Harlem, and one each in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.
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It comes amid a widespread rise in gun crime in New York City. For the year to date through Feb. 6, both shooting incidents and the number of shooting victims are up 30% over the same time last year.
Mayor Eric Adams released a multi-pronged "Blueprint to End Gun Violence" on Jan. 24 - but more than 50 people have been shot in the city just since then.
