Metro

NYU VP’s son in ambush

Police are looking for the two suspects above.

Police are looking for the two suspects above. (
)

One of the two men shot inside a drug-filled Greenwich Village apartment is the son of a respected NYU official, The Post has learned.

Alex Bongard and a pal were both shot in the chest during Monday night’s ambush inside Bongard’s $2,500-a-month Bleecker Street pad, where cops found a stash of marijuana, sources said.

Bongard, 24, is the son of Debra LaMorte, NYU’s senior vice president for development and alumni affairs, and had previously taken continuing education classes at the university.

The other shooting victim, Lucas Hinde, 31, recently served state prison time in Arizona for a marijuana-related conviction. Less than a month after his November 2009 parole, he led Utah cops on a wild, 130-mph chase through the desert in a car loaded with pot.

He was rereleased in June.

Bongard, Hinde and a third pal, Alissa Adler, 27, were in the third-floor apartment at 185 Bleecker St. around 11:30 p.m. when two men — purportedly there to buy pot — arrived wearing black masks, cops said.

One of the intruders fired two shots before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of cash and Adler’s pocketbook.

“There was definitely a fight overhead for two minutes . . . I heard a girl scream,” said Jackie, an artist who lives below Bongard’s apartment. “They were fighting all through the apartment. Rolling around as if they were fighting for a gun.

“There were multiple gunshots.”

Bongard and Hinde were rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where they were listed yesterday in stable condition. The assailants remain at large.

Bongard’s mother was by his side at Bellevue last night, and today issued a statement with regards to her son’s situation.

“I am saddened and dismayed by what has happened to my son, Alex. There will be many challenges for my son and all of us in the days and weeks ahead, but right now, as his mother, I am only focused on two things: his making a full recovery, and the NYPD catching the gunmen who shot my son.

“It’s obviously a difficult time for my family; we have been sustained by the many people who have called to wish Alex well and to offer their support. I hope the public will respect our desire for privacy as we make our way through this difficult time.” LaMorte said.

Bongard’s father is Florida hotel exec Burton Bongard, 69, who previously served more than six years in Ohio and federal prisons for financial crimes related to a collapsed Cincinnati savings-and-loan.

NYU declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Vinita Singla

john.doyle@nypost.com