By Betsy Scheinbart
A 17-year-old was wounded by an off-duty transit officer in an afternoon shoot-out in Rochdale Village last Thursday, police said.
Gabriel Mitchell, 17, was taken to the hospital in stable condition after allegedly shooting at two other men and pointing his gun at the off-duty officer, police said.
Police Officer Mark Harris came across Mitchell and two others allegedly shooting at each other at 5:07 p.m. in front of a Rochdale Village apartment complex, said Detective Robert Samuel, a police spokesman.
Harris identified himself as a police officer and then Mitchell allegedly pointed a gun at Harris, police said.
Harris then shot Mitchell once in the buttocks and once in the left leg, police said.
Mitchell was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital, where police said he was in stable condition.
Harris was treated at Jamaica Hospital for trauma, police said. The two other gunmen were arrested at the scene, where a loaded rifle was recovered, police said.
The names of those two suspects were not released by police, Samuel said.
No further information was available from police because the investigation was ongoing.
The shooting occurred on 116th Place, which is a dead-end street off Guy R. Brewer Boulevard near 134th Avenue in South Jamaica. The cul-de-sac has four 14-story towers and features a circular green space.
With 20 towers, the middle-class community of Rochdale Village is one of the largest cooperative developments in the world. It first opened in 1964.
