NYPD Officer Shot on the Job, Dies at Hospital

A police officer shot overnight while investigating a stolen vehicle has died after being rushed to surgery this morning.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the 35-year-old officer died at Kings County Hospital. The officer was identified as Dillon Stewart, a five-year veteran of the NYPD, who lived in Elmont, Long Island.

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The shooting happened at the corner of East 21st Street and Courtelyou Road in East Flatbush around 3:00 a.m. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says officer Stewart and a partner saw a car go through a red light and they gave chase. They were able to pull alongside the suspect’s car, and five shots were fired into the police cruiser. The commissioner says one bullet went into the officers left side, between to protective panels of his bullet proof vest. Commissioner Kelly says Officer Stewart, who was driving, was able to continue chasing the suspect’s car.

Stewart was rushed to Kings County Hospital in critical condition. He was in surgery early this morning, and said to be in critical condition. Doctors say he was hit in the left ventricle.

Then, just after 9:30a.m. came word he had died.

Stewart’s partner was not hit by gunfire, but taken to the hospital for trauma.

The suspect fled the scene in the vehicle, which was found later outside 100 East 21st Street.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was at the hospital, and Mayor Bloomberg joined him there this morning.