JUST 10 DAYS BEFORE RETIREMENT… EVERYTHING CHANGED.- An NYPD detective was sh0t in the back during a blazing g-unfight with an armed teenager, just days before he was set to retire after years of service.
A veteran NYPD detective just 10 days from retirement was shot in the back Sunday morning in a wild Brooklyn gunfight after he and another cop jumped out of their car to confront an armed teen.
The 18-year-old alleged gunman was arrested after the shootout, which occurred at Nostrand Avenue and St. Johns Place in Crown Heights around 4:45 a.m.
The shooting erupted when the teen approached an unmarked NYPD car holding a semiautomatic pistol, according to police.
Police at the scene of the shooting involving an NYPD detective.Christopher Sadowski for NY Post
A teenage suspect is in custody, sources told The Post.Christopher Sadowski for NY Post
The perp shot the unmarked NYPD vehicle early Sunday morning.Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
Police are investigating whether the gunman knew cops were in the vehicle when he walked up to it, sources told The Post. The officers were in uniform at the time.
As the two officers got out of the car to try to disarm the suspect, he opened fire, spraying the vehicle with rounds and leaving bullet holes in its front and rear windshields as well as on the passenger side, police said.
Three officers returned fire, but the suspect was not struck, according to police.
Detective Robert L. Karroll was shot in the upper back while wearing a ballistic vest and has minor injuries, police said.
The suspect fled on foot but was quickly nabbed several blocks away on Rogers Avenue and Union Street.
After he resisted arrest and refused to be handcuffed, officers used a Taser to subdue him before taking him into custody.
Karroll was meanwhile taken to a local hospital for treatment and is expected to make a full recovery, police said.
He is fewer than two weeks from retirement, according to sources.
“Today that vest saved his life,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference Sunday morning.
The suspect’s gun has been recovered, sources told The Post.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, flanked by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella, speaks during a press conference early Sunday, July 5, 2026.Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
A second officer suffered bruises to her face and shoulder during the incident.
The officers had been reassigned to Brooklyn shortly after midnight as part of a stepped-up patrol for the NYPD’s July 4th violence reduction plan. They had been working the Sail4th 250 event in Lower Manhattan on Saturday.
Both of the wounded cops were with with a sex-offender monitoring unit.
An NYPD officer holds up a photograph of the firearm allegedly used in the shooting during an early Sunday press conference on July 5, 2026.Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
Police said detectives were fired upon while sitting inside the vehicle at approximately 4:14 a.m. Sunday morning.Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
There is no body-worn camera video of the shooting, because it happened quickly and unexpectedly, Tisch said.
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Officers were going to local businesses Sunday to pull security footage to get a better sense of what happened in the run-up to the shooting, particularly as the suspect approached the vehicle, sources said.
A picture of the alleged weapon used, a SAR 9mm handgun recovered from the scene, was also shared by the NYPD on X.
The suspect reportedly had no prior criminal history.
