The NYPD opened fire on a car theft crew who were caught in the act of stealing vehicles in Flushing on Friday morning.
Police from the 109th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a burglary in progress at around 5:30 a.m. at the Express Auto Repair shop at 134-02 33rd Ave. Officers encountered a group of ten men who were in possession of firearms in a parking area near the intersection of Prince Street and 33rd Avenue. As the officers approached on foot, the gunmen jumped into several vehicles and attempted to flee at a high rate of speed toward the officers, an NYPD spokesman said. One officer discharged his service weapon as the vehicles fled northbound on Miller Street toward 32nd Avenue.
Police recovered four of the five cars the gang tried to steal. The fifth car, a black BMW, was reportedly last seen on the Whitestone Expressway heading to the Bronx. The officer who opened fire was transported to New York-Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition with tinnitus in his ears. There are no other injuries reported. Two men were taken into custody as persons of interest, but no charges have been filed. The investigation remains ongoing, according to the NYPD spokesman.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
Through June 1, the 109th Precinct has reported 190 burglaries so far in 2025, 22 more than the 168 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 13.1%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
