An argument at a block party escalated into gunfire, killing one man and wounding several others, including a police officer shot by a colleague in the hail of bullets, authorities said.
The gunfire erupted at about 3:00 a.m. Sunday in upper Manhattan, where two men had been arguing, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
One of the men fatally shot the other, 22-year-old Bronx resident Luis Soto, police said.
Five officers responded to the scene, and the gunman fired at them, Kelly said. Four of the five officers fired back, in a barrage of more than three dozen shots. The gunman was hit multiple times and later was hospitalized in critical but stable condition, police said.
Two of the officers were shot. Officer Michael Tedeschi was shot in the chest area, but the bullet, which came from another officer’s gun, hit his bullet-resistant vest.
When asked how one officer could have ended up in another’s line of fire, police spokesman Paul Browne attributed it to the confusion of the event.
“Officers were converging from different units in a tumultuous situation,” he said.
Tedeschi, 36, was expected to fully recover. The other shot officer, Alfredo Vargas, 28, was hit in a hand and was expected to be fine.
Three other people were hospitalized in stable condition with gunshot wounds. Two other officers suffered minor injuries.
