Girl, 3, Sat in Backseat of Car as Police Fatally Shot Passenger Who Had a Gun and Injured Driver: ‘Baby, Baby!’

One man is dead, a woman is wounded and a baby is unharmed after a car chase in New York City ended in a police shootout.

On Thursday, Dec. 6, New York Police Department (NYPD) officials confirmed during a press conference that officers chased down a car in Brooklyn after ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system, alerted police that a gunshot may have fired off in the Crown Heights neighborhood.

NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said officers arrived at a building on N. Portland Avenue around 3 p.m. local time, and a witness gave them the description of a car with an out-of-state license plate hanging on by one hinge.

Police located the car at the intersection of Fulton Street and Washington Avenue, and the car took off once the driver, a woman believed to be the mother of the baby, noticed a police car.

"They start speeding up. They start cutting through blocks, through Bed-Stuy. They're running red lights. Our officers are closely pursuing," Maddrey said.

The car eventually became stuck in traffic and police blocked it on all sides.

Maddrey added that a man in the passenger seat attempted to get out of the car but couldn't open his door all the way. He added that the individual was holding a gun that he pointed at officers, leading to the shootout.

NYPD officers then began firing at the car — about 18 or 19 shots in total from multiple officers, per Maddrey — as they gave the people in the car instructions to drop any weapons.

The woman driving the car got out and tried to run, and officers alleged that was the moment they noticed a child in the backseat.

“At a certain point, while officers were engaged, one of the officers started yelling, 'Baby, baby,' to tell officers to stop firing," Maddrey said, adding that an officer then got inside the vehicle and removed the baby from the backseat.

Local outlets ABC 7 and FOX 5 reported that the woman was 23 years old, the man was 21 and the girl was 3.

The woman was taken into custody after a short foot pursuit and the man sitting in the passenger seat was shot, Maddrey added, noting the man was wanted in a homicide case from March 2024.

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A semi-automatic weapon recovered at the scene had a capacity for 30 rounds, police said, but it's not yet clear if the suspect fired his gun. The legal capacity is 10 rounds in New York except for guns used at competitions or ranges.

The woman had two gunshot wounds on her right thigh, and she and the baby were taken to a local hospital. Maddrey alleged that officers handcuffed the man before trying to perform CPR on him, and he died. He has not yet been identified publicly as his family is still being notified.

ABC 7 also reported that the driver is believed to be the mother of the unharmed child. Although she had not been charged, police alleged that she violated several traffic laws and that the child was in the backseat without a car seat.

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