NYPD Officer In Critical Condition After Shooting

A man accused of shooting a plainclothes New York police officer in New York has been charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, officials say. The officer, who was shot Saturday night, remains in hospital in critical but stable condition, The Associated Press reports.

The officer, Brian Moore, 25, was attacked in Queens Village. His alleged assailant has been identified as 35-year-old Demetrius Blackwell.

The New York Daily News reports:

"Officer Moore was driving an unmarked police car when he and partner Erik Jansen, 30, both on-duty but in plainclothes, pulled up behind Blackwell who they had spotted "adjusting an object in his waistband," police commissioner Bill Bratton said after the attack.

"Blackwell, the cousin of former Giants cornerback Kory Blackwell, without warning pulled out a gun and fired at least twice into the police car at the corner of 212th St. and 104th Rd. after Moore asked him what he was doing, police said."

The AP quotes Bratton as saying that Moore "was rushed to a hospital in a patrol car" after the incident.

According to the news agency:

"After the shooting, witnesses described Blackwell to responding officers and pointed them in the direction he ran, Bratton said. Officers searched house by house and some could be seen walking on roofs as helicopters flew overhead.

"Police arrested Blackwell near the crime scene in a house on the block where he lives, officials said."