Gunman in custody after attacking NYPD officers in two Bronx shootings

A gunman is in custody after he ambushed police officers in the Bronx twice in 12 hours, wounding two in the attacks.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, was captured after he shot an officer at the headquarters of the 41st police precinct.

He walked into the police station and started shooting early on Sunday, hitting a lieutenant in the arm and narrowly missing other police officer before he ran out of bullets, lay down and tossed his pistol.

The attack came just hours after the same man approached a patrol van in the same part of the Bronx and fired at two officers inside, wounding one.

Despite multiple shots fired in both incidents, nobody was killed and all are expected to recover, police said.

“It is only by the grace of God and the heroic actions of those inside the building that took him into custody that we are not talking about police officers murdered inside a New York City police precinct,” New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a press conference on Sunday.

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Two security camera videos, posted on social media, captured the shooting inside the headquarters of the 41st Precinct, which happened shortly before 8am.

In one of them, the gunman is seen sauntering into the precinct lobby, before briefly disappearing off screen.

Police said the lieutenant who was shot returned fire but did not hit the gunman.

Then, the gunman rushed into a side room and fired at two people there, including a civilian employee, as they fled.

He then retreated to the lobby and dived on to the floor.

In another video from a different angle, an officer in the precinct lobby is seen reacting to the first gunshot.

Officers converge, pointing their guns, and the gunman’s pistol is seen sliding away from him across the floor.

In the attack on the patrol van, the gunman approached the uniformed officers’ van on Saturday asking for directions before pulling out a gun “without provocation", Mr Shea said.

He fired multiple shots, striking the officer in the driver’s seat in the chin and the neck, narrowly missing an artery.

Neither officer returned fire and the officer’s partner drove him to a hospital nearby.

On Sunday afternoon, he was released from the hospital to resounding cheers and applause from a sizeable contingent of fellow officers.

The officer, bandage visible on his neck, gave a thumbs-up to the crowd before getting into a waiting car.

“He is lucky to be alive,” Mr Shea said. “He is expected to make a full recovery and it is a miracle.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio said: “This was an attempt to assassinate police officers.

“We need to use that word.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a tweet Sunday he was “horrified by the multiple attacks” on police.

He said: “NY’s law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. These attacks are heinous.”