NYPD cop shot in the Bronx after shootout with suspect
An NYPD cop was shot in the arm Tuesday night during an exchange of gunfire with a suspect who was freed ahead of a 🐟sentencing date connected to a past gun bust.
The shootout unfolded after Officer Dennis Vargas, who works♛ for the Bronx Borough public safety team, and his partner spotted the suspec♎t walking near 3rd Avenue and Claremont Parkway at around 10:45 p.m., according to Chief of Detectives James Essig.
After V🌃argas, 32, and his partner, who were in uniform, exited their unmarked car, the suspect, identified as Rameek Smith, 25, fled on foot, official🍌s said.
The two cops gave chase and after a block-and-a-half pursuit, Smith turned around on Bathgate Avenue and allegedly fired two shots at the cops, striking Vargas. The officers returned fire, hitting Smith i🎃n the head, police and sources said.
Sources said Smith was initially stopped꧟ because it appeared he ﷽was carrying a weapon.
A ♏9mm Glock that was reported stolen out of Virginia last June was recover𓄧ed from the shooting scene, Essig said at a Wednesday morning press conference.
Vargas – an eight year veteran, whose father-in-law is also a cop — was taken to Lincoln Medical Center in stable condition and released hours later.
Smith was taken to St♈. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition.
At the press briefing, Police Commಌissioner Keechant Sewell called Smith “a dangerous criminal who should not have been on the streets of the Bronx or anywhere else.”
Smith, who liv♔es in a Staten Island homeless shelter💦, was last arrested in March 2020 at a Coney Island subway station. He was allegedly found with a gun after being stopped for fare evasion and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, officials and sources said.
He was also convicted of robbery in 20✨16 and given five years probation, officials said.
Smith pleaded guilty 🦩last December in the gun case and was rele🃏ased until his sentencing, which has been delayed twice. He is due back in court in June, officials said.
Mayor Eric Adams, in emotionally charged remarks at the press conference, called Smith’s 𝓰case a prime example of why he’s pushing for reforms.
“This is what we’re dealing with,” Adams said.
“People want to ask, Why am I cracking down on fare evasions? That’s why. People want to ask why we conducted 300,000 station inspections. That’s why.
“People want to ask, why are we pushing for reform? That’s why. This is what we are up against,” he said.
Adams also blasted Albany’s lenient bail reform laws.
“The number of shooꦫtings that we are responding to every night is despicable.”
“We took 2,600 guns off our stre🧸ets. The shooters of those guns a൲re back on the streets just like this person is,” the mayor fumed.
“Under normal circums﷽tances you would see a d༺ecrease in crime in the city, but the same criminals are continuing to come out in our streets committing violence over and over again. The city deserves better,” Adams said.
