NYPD Sergeants Wounded in Chinatown Shooting; Both Expected to Recover

NEW YORK – Two New York City Police Department (NYPD) sergeants were injured during a shooting incident in Lower Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. Both officers are expected to recover fully, and the suspect has been apprehended.

The incident occurred as NYPD officers responded to a report of an armed robbery on the second floor of 91 Canal St. in Chinatown, believed to be a mahjong parlor where gambling activities might occur. A man was reportedly stealing women’s purses at gunpoint.

Upon arriving at the scene, the officers learned that the suspect had fled north toward Delancey Street. Seven minutes later, officers on patrol spotted a man matching the suspect’s description on Eldridge Street. Two uniformed sergeants approached the man and attempted to detain him. The suspect then drew a loaded firearm from his pants pocket, leading to a struggle.

Witness Francisco Huayta described the intense moment, “They had him on top of the car, three of them, and then the guy still has his hand down here, so they put him on the top of the car, and then I heard the shots, boom boom.”

During the altercation, the suspect fired a shot, hitting one sergeant in the groin and grazing the second sergeant’s leg. Officers quickly subdued the suspect and recovered a loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol at the scene.

Both injured sergeants were transported to Bellevue Hospital. NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, who visited them at the hospital, confirmed that they were awake and in good spirits. “Yet again, your officers confronted a violent criminal who had no problem carrying an illegal gun on our streets, and as a result, two of our officers are in the hospital with gunshot wounds, and they’re lucky to be alive,” Caban stated.

Mayor Eric Adams noted that the officers did not discharge their weapons during the encounter.

Sgt. Christopher Leap, 34, from Long Island, who sustained a graze wound, was released from the hospital on Thursday evening. He received a warm welcome from fellow officers as he exited the hospital in a wheelchair, accompanied by his pregnant wife. Leap, who serves as a neighborhood coordination sergeant with the Seventh Precinct, has been with the NYPD for about 11 years.

The second sergeant, a 43-year-old public safety officer with the Fifth Precinct who has served with the NYPD for approximately 16 years, will remain in the hospital overnight for observation.

The suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Joshua Dorsett of Lower Manhattan, a known gang member with a history of prior arrests, including one in 2022 for criminal possession of a controlled substance. Dorsett, who is currently on probation, had met with his probation officer earlier on the day of the shooting.