Police shot at and nabbed an armed robber during a drama-packed chase in The Bronx early Sunday, authorities said.
The suspect and an accomplice had just robbed a 33-year-old man of $1,000 in cash on Faile Street near the Bruckner Expressway in Hunts Point around 4:20 a.m., cops said.
Two officers rushed to the scene and quickly apprehended one of the suspects on a nearby footbridge after a brief foot chase, according to police.
But the second suspect suddenly popped out from beneath a car and aimed his gun at the cops, officials said.
One of the officers shot at the gunman and missed, sparking a foot chase with that suspect, police said.
Nearby officers with Operation Impact — which assigns rookies to high-crime areas — soon found the suspect in an alleyway behind an apartment building on Longfellow Avenue, officials said.
The gunman was cornered but still wouldn’t not give up, police said. He jumped over a retaining wall, seriously injuring his leg, and then put his weapon to his own head, according to cops.
Members of the NYPD’s elite Emergency Services Unit arrived and talked the armed robber out of shooting himself, authorities said. But the suspect then pointed the gun at them, officials said.
The cops didn’t fire because they saw that the gunman’s weapon was jammed, police aid.
Instead, they managed to subdue him and take him to a local hospital, where doctors were trying to determine whether his leg had broken, police said.
Investigators recovered a semiautomatic 9 mm Ruger at the scene.
The 35-year-old cop who shot at the suspect was taken to an area hospital for ringing in his ears. He has eight years on the job.
Both suspects have not been formally charged, and their names have not been released.