NYPD Officer Shot in the Head Now in Stable Condition; Suspect In Custody [May 3, 2015]

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A New York City police officer was shot in the head while stopping a man suspected of carrying a gun.

The police officer identified as Officer Brian Moore was rushed to a hospital in Queens after being shot last Saturday evening, May 2, 2015. He was critically wounded and underwent surgery and is now in a stable condition, according to CBS News.

New York Police Commissioner William Bratton shares that the 25-year-old Moore and his partner Officer Erik Jensen were riding in an unmarked police car and stopped a man who was walking on foot. It was not clear why the officers stopped the man, according to Huffington Post.  Commissioner Bratton added that the police officers saw the man was "adjusting an object in his waistband."

The man removed a concealed gun from the waistband of his pants and fired the gun at least twice, with one bullet shooting Moore in the face. The authorities said the wounded officer was shot in the cheek and the bullet exited at the side of his head. Officer Jensen radioed for assistance and backup.

"They did not have an opportunity to get out and return fire," commissioner Bratton spoke at the news conference with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

Police backup arrived at the Queens neighborhood and searched the whole village to look for the suspect. Officers questioned witnesses and pointed the direction to where the suspect ran.  About an hour and a half later, the police arrested a suspect named Demetrius Blackwell, 35, who was loitering near the crime scene, according to the New York Times.

Blackwell had not yet been charged and no weapon of any kind was found. Bratton said via USA Today that Blackwell had an extensive criminal record including possession of a weapon and theft.

Mayor de Blasio spoke at a news conference about the shooting incident. "This was an unconscionable act of violence, not just against one police officer, but against the city of New York and against the values we hold dear.

"Our hearts are with his family, his loved ones - our hearts are with his extended family, the men and women of the NYPD."

This is the fifth NYPD officer shooting incident since December of last year and occurred less than six months after the fatal shooting of two NYPD Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in Brooklyn. The two officers were sitting in their patrol car when they were attacked.