NEW YORK (PIX11) — A suspect in the shooting of a rookie NYPD officer in Queens has been arrested, according to authorities.
Devin Spraggins, 22, was apprehended by members of the Regional Fugitive Task Force late Thursday in the Bronx in connection with the shooting, NYPD officials said during a Friday briefing. Spraggins was arrested on charges of attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and obstructing governmental administration.
“This was a job extremely well done,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said Friday of the investigation leading to Spraggins’ arrest.
Around 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, an MTA bus driver flagged down officers near 161st Street and 90th Avenue in Jamaica to report a fight between two passengers over a seat, police previously said.
When the officers approached the bus, one passenger pushed past them and took off running, officials said. One of the cops, Officer Brett Boller, caught up with the man, identified as Spraggins, after a short chase. The two engaged in a struggle that ended with Boller shot once in the hip, authorities said.
Another cop fired two shots at the man as he once again fled, but he escaped unharmed, officials said. In his flight, the man ditched his jacket, orange sweatshirt, and mask in a parking garage, police said.
First responders rushed Boller, who is also 22 and had just started the job three months prior to the day, to an area hospital. He underwent surgery and was listed in what authorities described as stable condition.
After the shooting, Spraggins got into a Lyft near 161st Street and Hillside Avenue, investigators determined, tracking the vehicle’s path to a home on 215th Street.
Police obtained a search warrant for the home, though Spraggins was gone by the time they executed it Thursday evening, officials said. They did, however, recover a pair of sneakers believed to have been worn by Spraggins during the incident, as well as leads pointing them to another home in the Bronx, authorities said.
Searching that home hours later, the Regional Fugitive Task Force took Spraggins into custody without incident, police said, noting that they also found a 9mm handgun. A 9mm shell casing was found at the scene of the shooting, officials said. Ballistic testing is underway.
NYPD officials described Spraggins as “a transient,” with ties to both boroughs, as well as Poughkeepsie and Georgia. He does not, however, have any known history of run-ins with the department, authorities said.
Public online court records did not contain details of Spraggins’ case as of Friday morning.
Investigators had released several surveillance images of the person they were seeking, and $20,000 in reward money had been put up for leads.
