Officer Shot At Bushwick Houses, Hundreds Of Cops Search For Perp

A police officer was shot in the head around 9 p.m. tonight in Brooklyn, and there's currently a massive police mobilization in search of the shooter. Apparently, two anti-crime police officers saw a man with a gun by the Bushwick Houses; WPIX reports, "They gave chase and followed the suspect into an enclosed area where the man wheeled and fired, striking one of the officers in the head, police said."

Neither the FDNY nor the NYPD are confirming anything about the officer's condition—an FDNY spokesman will only say that he was transported to Bellevue, and the NYPD press office tells us they have no information to offer to the public about the shooting. But WPIX said that the officer, who was described in the Post as a plainclothes cop, was alive and conscious when he was transported to Bellevue, and there are currently "several hundred" officers swarming the area in search of the shooter.

The scene outside the Bushwick Houses tonight. (David Eisenman)

One tipster tells us that helicopters are currently circling the neighborhood, and some "20 - 30 cop cars came flying down Bushwick Avenue" about a half hour after the shooting. The Daily News reports that a witness saw the officer and a partner chasing two men, and then gunfire broke out. "He was bleeding from the mouth," the witness says. "They tried to revive him, pressing on his neck, but he looked in bad shape. He looked critical." But the News also reports that the officer is expected to survive. We'll update as more information becomes available.

Photographer Zach Campbell tells us, "I just spoke to a couple cops and residents who said that the entire complex is blocked off - nobody being let in or out of the buildings. Traffic on Bushwick Ave past Flushing is completely stopped - people are just standing outside their cars with this kind of dazed air. Someone said there are at least three precincts responding... I was a block away from the projects right after the event and saw a 20 minute stream of cars, easily a few dozen vehicles coming."

Update: Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly spoke at a press conference just now. Bloomberg identified the officer as Kevin Brennan, 29, saying he "was shot tonight in the head in the Bushwick Houses public housing development in Brooklyn when he and his partners responded to a report of shots fired. The doctors here at Bellevue successfully removed the bullet from the right base of Officer Brennan’s skull. He is in critical but stable condition."

Brennan has been with the NYPD since 2005, and Bloomberg said, "Just six weeks ago, he and his wife Janet welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Maeve into the world. And thankfully tonight I think there’s no reason to think her daddy won’t be there to see her crawl for the first time - and in good time, dance at her wedding."

Police say they've apprehended the suspect at the Bushwick Houses.