Brooklyn - Four New York City police officers were struck during a shootout with a man barricaded in a Brooklyn home, but all are expected to recover.
Two of the officers were struck in the leg and two were grazed by bullets.
The officers were identified as Captain Al Pizzano, Detective Kenneth Ayala, Detective Mike Keenan and Police Officer Matthew Granahan. They were all being treated at Lutheran Medical Center.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly held a news conference at the hospital on Sunday morning to update the situation.
Police had responded to a 911 call of a man with a gun at 3301 Nostrand Avenue in the Sheepshead Bay section. 33-year-old Nakwon Foxworth crossed paths with police after threatening some movers at his apartment building with a gun.
Police say Foxworth barricaded himself with his pregnant girlfriend and infant son. She managed to escape with the baby in her arms, told officers he held her hostage and was armed. The officers began to enter and the suspect fired off 12 rounds hitting the officers.
The suspect was struck as officers returned fire. He was hospitalized in stable but critical condition at Kings County Hospital.
"We have now had eight - that's correct, eight - members of the department shot in the last four months. And this is the second time in the last 24 hours police have been fired upon by armed assailants," Bloomberg said.
Commissioner Kelly says that Foxworth had a cache of weapons inside the home.
According to Kelly, Foxworth a nine-millimeter to shoot the officers and the weapon was was part of a multiple-gun purchase in Wilmington, North Carolina. The suspect also had a sawed-off military style assault rifle equipped with a scope that had been stolen from Florida and a defaced, 22-caliber revolver.
Foxworth had a total of 50 rounds for his mini-14 assault weapon - the same ammunition used by the U.S. military in M-4 and M-16 rifles.
The suspect was released from prison in 2010 after having served 10 years, for attempted murder and robbery, and selling drugs in prison.
Foxworth previously served two years for attempted murder.
He is being charged with Attempted Murder, Assault on a Police Officer, Criminal Possession of a Weapon and Menacing.
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