Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a 15-year-old was arraigned on a complaint charging him with multiple counts of attempted murder, attempted assault and weapon possession for firing at two New York City Police Department officers in an unmarked car on Tuesday in the Rockaways.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, a 15-year-old, along with an unapprehended other, brandished a gun and fired it at an unmarked NYPD car with a detective and sergeant inside. Despite coming under potentially deadly gunfire, the officers were able to identify and apprehend the defendant allegedly responsible for this brazen shooting. We are grateful that the members of service were not injured in this incident.”

The defendant, of Edgemere, was arraigned Wednesday night on a criminal complaint charging him with two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of attempted assault in the first degree, two counts of attempted aggravated assault upon a police officer or a peace officer, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Indira Khan ordered the defendant to return to court yesterday when Supreme Court Justice Bruna DiBiase continued remand. The defendant is due back in court Monday. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

DA Katz said that, according to the criminal complaint, on Tuesday, at approximately 10:20 p.m., an NYPD detective and sergeant were traveling westbound on Almeda Avenue near Beach 58^th Street in Edgemere when their unmarked police vehicle was shot at multiple times. The NYPD members exited the vehicle and apprehended the alleged shooter. Upon investigation, two 9 mm shell casings were found in the area where the shots originated.

Assistant District Attorney Kevin C. Timpone of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan Sennett, Bureau Chief, Barry Frankenstein and Philip Anderson, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Joseph T. Conley III.