The New York Police Department is offering a $13,500 reward in their hunt for a gunman who injured a Brazilian tourist and shot at cops as they chased him in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday night.
Police were seen outside The Stewart hotel on Friday as they search for the alleged gunman, believed to be a migrant between 15 and 20 years old who opened fire at the JD Sports Store in Times Square.
‘There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing,’ the NYPD told DailyMail.com on Friday morning. A spokeswoman added that a male suspect was taken into custody shortly after the shooting but released.
‘We need the public’s help to identify and locate this individual before he hurts anyone else. He already shot an innocent person and tried to murder a NYC Police Officer,’ said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
Gunfire erupted after a security guard stopped the shooter and two other teenagers as they tried to leave the JD Sports Store in Times Square with allegedly stolen items.
The New York Police Department is offering a $13,500 reward in their hunt for a gunman who injured a Brazilian tourist and shot at cops on Thursday night in Times Square
Police were seen outside The Stewart hotel on Friday as they search for the alleged gunman, believed to be a migrant between 15 and 20 years old
Police are offering a $13,500 reward in their hunt for the gunman who injured a Brazilian tourist and shot at cops as they chased him
The NYPD is hunting a thief who opened fire inside JD Sports in Times Square night, injuring a tourist before fleeing
The guard asked for their receipts and one of the group walked out of the shop empty-handed, but the other two stayed
The female guard asked for their receipts and one of the group walked out of the shop empty-handed, but the other two stayed. The guard then grabbed a shopping bag that contained a coat they were allegedly trying to steal, and approached the other teenager.
The young man then opened fire against the guard, but instead hit a 37-year-old Brazilian woman in the leg, just above the knee, as she was shopping inside the store with a friend.
After she was shot, the tourist limped to a storage room and barricaded herself inside as the security guard left the teenagers and rushed to her aid. She was seen being taken away by an ambulance in footage from the scene.
The gunman, described as a Hispanic make, also shot at police as he fled, according to officials, who said they want to charge him with attempted murder of a police officer.
Local news site Pix 11 has reported that police sources say the alleged gunman is a migrant.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said the shooter escaped into the 49th Street subway station.
‘Mid-block on 47th Street, there was a cut between the Fox buildings. As the perpetrator goes in there, he turns one time and fires at our officer. Our officer draws his weapon, but he cannot fire, too many people around,’ Chell said.
Police later released a photo of the suspect tin the shooting. Police said the alleged gunman was last seen wearing a white baseball hat, white coat and white pants
Police have also released the above image of the shooting suspect as they hunt for him
‘There’s too many people ducking. As the male in the white goes farther into the cut, under his armpit, he fires his second shot at our officer. Again, our officer does not return fire.’
The pair left a trail of clothes at West 48th Street and Sixth Avenue.
Police say the alleged gunman fled into a subway station at 46th Street and Sixth Avenue and surveillance video shows him running onto the train’s tracks before exiting the subway system.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry tweeted: ‘An attack on a cop is an attack on all of us! This coward shot at a hard working, innocent New Yorker and then opened fire on one of our officers. … This individual continues to pose a danger and must be caught immediately.’
The Brazilian tourist was seen being taken away by an ambulance in footage from the scene
The suspects left a trail of clothes at West 48th Street and Sixth Avenue
Witnesses tied the victim’s shirt around her leg as makeshift tourniquet as staff and other shoppers huddled in the store’s back room.
The tourist was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in a stable condition and a policeman who ran out of breath while chasing the suspects was taken to New York-Presbyterian.
Police said the alleged gunman was last seen wearing a white baseball hat, white coat and white pants.
‘At this point, we have numerous resources scouring this area looking for that male,’ Chell said.
‘He shot at our cops not once but twice. He also shot an innocent female one time in the leg. That’s where we stand right now.’
Heavily armed police patrol Times Square with the shooter still at large
Investigators mark a tool believed to have been dropped by the teens as they fled
It is the latest incident of spiraling crime at the tourist hotspot.
A gang of seven migrants has been indicted for attacking NYPD officers in Times Square in a separate attack on January 27.
Most of them were released after their initial arrest and have not been located by cops since.
Only one remains in custody.
