CORAM, N.Y. (PIX11) – A Suffolk County police officer was shot in Coram on Long Island Thursday afternoon, officials said.
The police officer was shot after chasing down a suspect on Homestead Drive around 12:50 p.m., according to the Suffolk County Police Department. The officer was shot in the upper thigh and hospitalized in stable condition, officials said. He is expected to survive.
The injured officer is a six-year veteran who has a 17-month-old daughter, according to Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison.
“I was able to speak to the officer,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “For the circumstances, he was in good spirits. We’re very confident he is going to be OK.”
The police officer was among multiple officers conducting a surveillance operation outside a home on Norfleet Lane, where they believed a robbery suspect was inside, according to Harrison.
The suspect — 20-year-old Janell Funderburke — eventually left the home and noticed the police presence outside, officials said. Funderburke fled to Homestead Drive, with a police officer chasing after him on foot.
“The officer, who was in plain clothes, identified himself and ordered the suspect to stop. The suspect did not comply, and at some point that man ultimately fired two rounds at our officer,” Harrison said.
The officer was hit in his upper-right thigh in front of 86 Homestead Drive. Fellow officers applied tourniquets to the injured officer, which saved him from bleeding out, according to doctors.
Funderburke then fled to his home at 98 Homestead Drive. He was arrested without incident after a 20-minute standoff, officials said. He will be charged with attempted murder of the police officer, as well as for a robbery that occurred in Coram on Tuesday.
Funderburke is a Bloods gang member who has had previous encounters with police, including an arrest for criminal possession of a weapon in August 2022, officials said.
“Today, because of the heroic efforts of members of the Suffolk County Police Department and this officer who was injured and shot in the line duty, there is a dangerous individual who is off the streets,” Bellone said.
