Cops opened fire on a 23-year-old man after he pointed a gun at them during a chase outside an East Harlem housing complex early Sunday, officials said.
The suspect, Michael Schultz, is in critical condition and in police custody at New York Hospital, where he was taken after the 2 a.m. shooting.
NYPD Housing Bureau cops had been responding to a call about an unruly crowd, which included a man who may have had a gun, before the shooting.
When the officers approached the group, the suspect took off, fleeing along Lexington Avenue, police said. He then turned onto East 102nd and ran east, they said.
Cops were closing in when he suddenly stopped, drew a gun and turned around, authorities said.
Several witnesses said the suspect was trying to throw the gun away when he was shot.
Two officers opened fire, hitting Schultz several times. Investigators recovered a .22-caliber revolver at the scene.
It was not clear how many shots the cops fired.
Both officers were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital for ringing in their ears.
“The guy ran from the cops and pulled a gun,” witness Manuel Mantilla, 38, told The Post. “The cops opened fire. You pull a gun on a cop, that’s what happens.”
Schultz’s sister, Monet, 25, insisted her brother has never been in trouble — despite prior arrests for criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of marijuana, according to cops.
“I went to the hospital to see my baby brother, but they won’t let me up,” Monet Schultz said.
“I’m trying to understand what happened. He’s not a trouble kid. He’s never been to jail. I don’t understand.”
Residents of the George Washington Houses, near where the shooting occurred, said the loud gunfire woke them up.
“It was crazy out there,” said Quammi Love, 25. “I heard shot after shot. I just ducked under my window until it stopped.”
The shooting came two days after police fatally gunned down a drugstore thief on the FDR Drive near East 96th Street.
In that incident Scott Kato, 45, had been trying to escape onto the FDR after sticking up a pharmacy, and he got stuck in traffic.
Four cops approached his black Jeep with guns drawn and opened fire when he pulled out his weapon, sources said.