Month: September 2024

A police chase that started in Queens, NY ended after a fatal shooting on Long Island, and involved four crashes and left eight people, including police officers, hospitalized. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that five Nassau County police officers, two New York Police Department officers and a civilian were hurt during the incident.

Ryder said at a news conference Saturday that around 11 p.m. Friday, the driver was first chased by NYPD officers in Queens; he fled into Nassau County, and police first tried to stop him near Merrick Avenue and Sunrise Highway with the driver “tried to ram” two NYPD officers as he fled during the pursuit, and then slammed into two police cars, Ryder said.

Ryder said: “NYPD put the notification over the air that they were heading towards Nassau County. We engaged with that vehicle somewhere in the area of Merrick on Sunrise Highway. At that time, the officers had boxed in the individual. The individual decided he was not going to stop. He ran through, took off two of our police cars, two of our officers they attempted to run over. They dove out of the way and that vehicle took off again.”.

The police commissioner added that the driver then crashed into a third police car before driving the wrong way on Sunrise Highway and struck a fourth car, which led to the hospitalization of a civilian. The driver finally lost control of the vehicle near Hicksville Road and Sunrise Highway: “Officers got out of the car to take control and arrest the individual, that individual did not comply, there was a shooting that occurred and that individual died.”

Per ABC News, the driver’s name wasn’t immediately released, with the state attorney general’s office notified and leading the investigation. The city said that video was being collected from places along the highway, as well as from officers’ body-worn cameras.

Editorial credit: Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com

Authorities in Birmingham, Ala., have launched a manhunt for “multiple shooters” on Sunday after four people were killed and 17 others injured in a shooting at a popular nightlife spot in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday, which police describe as a targeted “hit” on one of the victims who were killed.

The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in Five Points South (an entertainment and restaurant district with restaurants and nightlife) on the sidewalk and street outside a hookah and cigar lounge, Hush. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said a vehicle pulled up and “multiple shooters” got out and began firing, then fled the scene. Thurmond believes the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, possibly in a murder-for-hire: “We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person.”

Police said approximately 100 shell casings were recovered at the scene; Chief Thurmond said law enforcement was working to determine what weapons were used, but say that some of the gunfire was “fully automatic’ and police believe Glock switches, which are machine gun conversion devices, were used. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin posted on social media: “Glock switches are the number one public safety issue in our city and state. Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that discharges all bullets within seconds doesn’t belong on our domestic streets.”

Mayor Woodfin later stated at a Sunday press conference: “The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets .. We find ourselves in 2024, where gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country. And the city of Birmingham, unfortunately finds itself at the tip of that spear .. Elected officials locally, statewide and nationally have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence.” The Birmingham mayor also urged state and federal officials to give cities more tools to address gun violence.

Police identified 17 people with injuries, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital sharing they were treating 11 victims, a spokesperson told WVTM in a statement, with injuries ranged from non-life-threatening to at least four life-threatening.

Editorial credit: Jimmy Rooney / Shutterstock.com