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© Marc Herman, NY Daily NewsA NYPD police officer was shot around 2:30 a.m. Sunday in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Police investigate the scene at Gates Ave. and Marcus Garvey Boulevard.
A gunman who shot a police officer in the leg was in turn shot and wounded by other officers early Sunday morning in Brooklyn, the police said.

The encounter began around 2:30 a.m., when plainclothes officers on patrol in an unmarked vehicle noticed a man adjusting his waistband near Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Monroe Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the Police Department said. Suspecting the man was carrying a gun, the police said, the officers got out of the vehicle and approached him.


Comment: Take note, adjusting your waistband in public may attract the attention of police.


When they did, the man ran, the police said.

A block away, at the intersection of Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Gates Avenue, the man came upon two other officers on foot patrol and opened fire, the police said. He hit the officer, John Hirschberger, 28, in the left thigh, and continued running as the other officers returned fire, the police said.

The man rounded the corner onto Gates Avenue and made it about halfway down the block before he was apprehended. He had been shot once in the back and was taken to Kings County Hospital Center in stable condition.

A police spokesman said the man, 22 - whose name has not been released - had an extensive arrest history, including several arrests for gun possession and robbery. Charges against him in connection with the shooting on Sunday were pending.

A .38-caliber Rossi handgun was recovered from the scene.

Officer Hirschberger, who joined the department a year ago, was also taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was treated and released, the police said.

Earlier on Sunday morning, a 23-year-old man was found dead on a Bronx street corner with several gunshot wounds, the police said.

Even as the homicide rate in New York continues to decline to historic lows, the authorities say, there has been a rise in shootings. There have been over 800 shootings in New York so far this year, a more than 10 percent increase over shootings during the same period last year, despite efforts by the Police Department to bolster patrols in high-crime areas. On one night in August, 14 people were shot in different parts of the city; two of them were killed.