A Bronx man has been charged this week for allegedly shooting at NYPD officers near the intersection of 174th Street and Vyse Avenue in Crotona Park East during an incident last Friday.
Anthony Gomez, 33, was charged with possession of ammunition after a felony conviction and escape from custody, which carry maximum sentences of 15 years and five years in prison, respectively. The NYPD also told the Bronx Times that the agency booked him on five counts of attempted murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
According to the announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, Gomez allegedly fired a 9mm at NYPD officers on June 16 after fleeing from a federal halfway house where he was finishing out his sentence for armed robbery. Halfway houses provide a structured, supervised environment for inmates who are nearing release and will soon re-enter into society after incarceration.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the announcement that Gomez posed a real threat to the community’s safety.
“ … The defendant allegedly committed this shooting in the bright light of a summer Friday night while numerous New Yorkers, including young children and families, were on the sidewalk and had to duck and run for safe cover,” Williams said. “Anyone who brings gun violence to our community and targets law enforcement officers who work hard every day to keep New Yorkers safe will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
According to the investigation, Gomez was on approved leave from the halfway house he was staying in when he allegedly attempted to hide a gun in the wheel well of a car parked on the street in the Bronx. Officers saw him, so Gomez reportedly grabbed the gun and tried to flee cops on foot.
The investigation states that Gomez encountered additional NYPD officers across the street while trying to flee. He then allegedly “pointed the firearm at them several times, and fired a shot at them.” Surveillance photos show a group of four people, two of which appear to be small children, on the sidewalk less than a block from where Gomez was supposedly firing his weapon at cops.
After allegedly shooting at officers, Gomez hid in a residential building. Police said they were able to arrest him eight hours later outside of a neighboring building with a rooftop that connected to the building in which Gomez hid.
Shooting police officers or shooting at them often carries strong sentences in court when a defendant is convicted. Earlier this spring, a Brooklyn man was given 16 years for shooting an NYPD detective in 2018. Last year, a man was sentenced to 30 years to life for the death of an NYPD officer during an armed robbery of a Queens store in 2019.
The NYPD also offers reward programs, one of the most advertised among them the Cop Shot Reward Program, which offers a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the shooting of an NYPD officer.
Because Gomez didn’t return to the halfway house before his curfew, the investigation states he is considered to have escaped from federal custody. The criminal complaint against Gomez alleges that he lied to staff at the halfway house about why he was missing his curfew— saying that he stopped by his girlfriend’s apartment but couldn’t leave because the NYPD had designated the area outside her place a crime scene, and that cops wouldn’t let anyone in or out. But in all actuality, Gomez was hiding from police during the time he said he was at his girlfriend’s, according to the complaint.
“By allegedly escaping from federal custody and brazenly shooting a gun at uniformed NYPD officers in broad daylight on a busy Bronx street, this repeat criminal has proven that he is a dangerous threat to our community,” said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell in the announcement.
The NYPD confirmed with the Bronx Times that no injuries were reported as a result of the shooting.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
