By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A pair of FDNY emergency medical technicians were nearly struck by gunfire early Thursday after a gunman opened fire outside a Bronx NYCHA complex, hitting an 18-year-old man in the stomach, police said.
The EMTs were responding to a call about an elderly patient on Webster Ave. near E. 170th St. in Mott Haven — outside the Butler Houses — around 12:15 a.m. when their ambulance was struck by gunfire.
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Bullets shattered the front and rear windows of the ambulance, cops said.
At the same time, an 18-year-old was found shot in the stomach on Webster Ave., a short distance away from the ambulance.
Another EMS crew rushed the teen to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was expected to survive.
The EMTs were near the ambulance but not inside it when shots were fired, cops said. Both EMTs were unharmed — but were taken to a local hospital for evaluation, cops said.
Local 2507, the union representing city EMTs and paramedics, said the two street medics were “just inches away from death.”
“We are blessed that the two FDNY EMS responders involved were not hurt, but how many incidents like this are necessary before action is taken on behalf of our city’s brave and highly skilled medical first responders?” asked the union, which has repeatedly called for safer working conditions, plus pay parity with other first responders, like firefighters and police officers.
“Every day, the women and men of FDNY EMS walk into the unknown with the hopes of helping their fellow New Yorkers in medical peril,” the union added. “However, the dangers our crews experience on the streets of New York City are unfortunately becoming far too routine.”
“It is absolutely clear that the members of EMS deserve more and better support, and respect for the extremely dangerous work we do as New York City’s frontline, medical first responders,” the union said.
The gunman in Thursday’s shooting ran off. No arrests have been made.
Cops were scouring the area looking for surveillance footage that could help them identify the gunman.
The shooting occurred just hours after Mayor Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that the Bronx has been split into two separate patrol boroughs in order to bring more police resources to the borough.
The Bronx accounts for more than a third of the city’s murders this year, but, except for Staten Island, every other borough in the city is split into two patrol commands. An additional 200 officers will be assigned to the Bronx as it is divided into separate north and south borough commands. Patrol boroughs are commands that oversee local police precinct operations.
“Today is long overdue,” Tisch said, “and a historic moment for the residents of the Bronx , for the officers doing this work, and for a borough that has carried one of the heaviest public safety burdens anywhere in the city.”
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