By Arianna Neves and Jazmina Ahmad, CNN
Two New York Police Department officers responding to a report of a fight on a Bronx street were shot during a gun battle with two men inside a nearby home, the NYPD said.
NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said the incident started around 9:30 p.m. Monday, when officers on patrol on the corner of 118th Street and Kingsbridge Road heard a commotion and went to investigate.
They saw two men outside a house who appeared to be fighting and one of the men produced a weapon and began shooting, Monahan said.
A 19-year-old bystander was also shot in the legs and taken to a hospital, he said. The person was in stable condition, he said.
The responding officers fired at the men, Monahan said. At least one of the officers was hit, but their injuries were not life-threatening, Monahan said. They were taken to the hospital and were expected to survive.
Police recovered a gun from the scene of the incident, Monahan said. He did not say where.
The 19-year-old is facing charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon, Monahan said. A 17-year-old was arrested after a search of the scene.
A woman who lives in the house where the shooting took place identified one of the men as her boyfriend, she said.
“I just woke up and I heard my neighbor screaming,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “I came out to see what was going on. I saw my boyfriend and I guess they just got into an argument. Then they just got out of the car and they were shooting at each other.”
She said she saw one of the men run from the scene and a woman run out screaming from the house. She said she ran inside to get her 15-year-old son who was downstairs.
The incident comes amid an already tense moment for the NYPD and the US criminal justice system, which saw an uproar over the release of footage of Eric Garner’s fatal chokehold death and the decision to not charge Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton was scheduled to speak at a rally outside the hospital where the injured officers were taken.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was confident the officers who were shot would recover from their injuries. He expressed sympathy for the bystanders who were injured, adding that he was in the process of speaking with the surviving officers’ families.
“We are a city that allows people to feel safe in the city. Tonight, in the Bronx, that’s not true,” de Blasio said. “We will do everything we can to make sure that these police officers have the support they need as they get back on their feet.”
The suspects remain at large, Monahan said.
No other information about the suspects was immediately available.
The officers’ names have not been released.