NEW YORK – A married couple of off-duty NYPD detectives got the shock of their lives after their car was struck by a stray bullet with their young son inside, authorities say.
Detective Stephanie Eil told our sister station NBC 4 New York She and her husband were driving down the Bronx River Parkway Monday night, on their way home from a Fourth of July party, when they heard a loud bang.
Eil says they first thought it was the sound of fireworks. It turned out to be a bullet that went through his car door. The detective says the car door essentially served as a bulletproof vest, protecting the family from her. Her 2-year-old son was in a car seat in the back and Eil was driving. She says the bullet almost went through her window.
“You don’t expect it on your day off,” Eiel said.
He didn’t even notice the bullet lodged in his car until the next morning.
“This is what we’ve come to, this is what the streets are giving us, it’s dangerous unless we fix these gun laws,” Eil said.
After a terrible start to the year, the city’s gun problem has improved and shooting incidents during the first half of 2022 were actually down 12% compared to 2021. But the abrupt spasms of violence, particularly on weekends, they still affect all five boroughs.
At least 21 people were shot, three of them killed, in a wave of violence across the city on July 4. It happened the same day a gunman opened fire at a parade in an Illinois suburb, killing six people and wounding dozens as they marched on Independence Day.
New York City was among at least a dozen major US cities plagued by the scourge of gun violence over the holiday weekend. Mayor Eric Adams has implemented more targeted policing strategies and called on Albany to take action on bail reform, though many say bail reform hardly addresses the entirety of what is clearly a multifaceted problem.
Paul DiGiacomo of the NYPD Detectives Endowment Association says the city should appoint a special gun prosecutor to target violence and gun-related crime.
“Gun violence is out of control,” DiGiacomo said.
As for the shooting that nearly wounded the NYPD couple, police are investigating the circumstances, whether it was celebratory shooting to commemorate Independence Day, which erupted at the time the fireworks, or a different motivation.
Either way, Eil says she has her guard up now, even on her days off.
“These moments contaminate our security and it’s not just us,” he said. “Everyone is watching it.”
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