Police charged a 22-year-old man with attempted murder after he reportedly shot and injured two NYPD sergeants during an armed robbery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Thursday afternoon, officials said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said 22-year-old Joshua Dorsett was was charged with several counts of attempted murder, attempted murder of a police officer and armed robbery. Police said he was seen on video entering a second floor Mahjong parlor at 91 Canal St. waving a gun and demanding purses from women shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday.
The two sergeants responded to a 911 call and pursued Dorsett on foot, Kenny said. After Dorsett was stopped minutes later near Delancey and Eldridge streets, he drew a .45 semiautomatic pistol and fired a single shot that struck both officers, according to police.
Kenny said one sergeant was shot in the groin and the other was grazed in the leg. Kenny said one officer was expected to be released on Thursday night while the other was being held for observation. But both were expected to make a full recovery, officials said.
"I'm relieved to say that our officers are both in good stable condition and we expect them to make a full recovery,” NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban said at a news conference at Bellevue Hospital on Thursday night.
Police block off the street near the scene of the alleged shooting.
Kenny said the two sergeants and other responding officers restrained Dorsett after the shot.
Mayor Eric Adams praised the sergeants, who officials said have been on the force for 16 and 11 years. He also thanked hospital staff for treating them.
“The staff responded quickly in speaking to the two officers and their family members,” he said. “We just want to personally thank them for putting their lives on the line."
Dorsett’s attorney did not comment.
Mikey Reihill works as a bartender at the popular Lower Manhattan watering hole Attaboy. He said he was riding inside an Uber on his way to work when two officers, who were responding to the shooting on foot, stopped the vehicle he was riding in and jumped in next to him.
“I didn’t really know what was going on,” he told Gothamist near the scene. “They were out of breath from chasing and stuff. I didn’t really want to ask either of them, ‘What’s going on?’”
