Early this morning a shootout broke out in a quiet New Hyde Park neighborhood between two burglars and police. The bullets started flying when cops arrived at the scene of the break-in. Veteran cop Mohit Arora, 32, of Queens, was shot in hip while attempting to arrest the suspects. According to Nassau County Detective Lieutenant John Azzatta, Arora suffered a “very ugly injury.”
Officer Arora was the first to arrive at the scene and caught the burglars in the act of breaking into an upscale two story brick home at around 1:50 a.m. The two suspects fled after noticing police had arrived. One of the burglars fired at Arora after the officer thought they were surrendering themselves.
After being shot Arora was loaded into a police cruiser and rushed to Long Island Jewish Hospital. The officer was initially in critical condition after being admitted to the hospital but his condition improved after surgery three hours later. Arora still needs to undergo surgery for a hip fracture.
“I was shocked and scared,” Arora’s sister, Seema Mehta, said in an interview with the Daily News. “I got very panicked. Later on I realized that he called, so it can’t be that bad.”
Twenty officers responded to the scene of the robbery and the burglars continued to fire at police. Arora was the only officer to be hit by gunfire during the shootout. Witnesses claim that more than a dozen shots were fired. The burglars were arrested after a manhunt sealed off half of New Hyde Park. A 9-mm handgun was recovered and police aren’t sure how many shots were fired by both officers and suspects before the apprehension.
Nassau County Police believe the Campbell Street house was specifically targeted but aren’t saying why because it would interfere with the investigation. The owners of the home received no injuries and nothing was stolen during the attempted home invasion because Nassau Police quickly arrived at the scene.
[Source: Daily News]