Photo by Evan Roe of the shooter being tackled and arrested.
That guy who started firing a gun in the middle of one of the most crowded blocks in the neighborhood on Friday night was a cop out drinking with some friends, according to reports in the Daily News and other outlets. We reported on it last night, but details then were sketchy.
“Amsterdam Ave. erupted in gunfire and blood-curdling screams just after 9 p.m. when Victor Zambrano Jr., 49, shot a 31-year-old woman in the left foot and the woman’s 42-year-old boyfriend in the right calf during an argument over his weapon, neighbors and police sources said,” the News reported.
Amsterdam Avenue between 82nd and 83rd street, where the incident occurred, is filled with bars and restaurants with outdoor seating. People in bars started dropping to the ground or rushed to the back of the bar when they heard shots fired. Some thought it was fireworks or a tire blowing out.
The state narcotics officer was out with friends, one of whom had asked to hold his gun and then refused to give it back, sources told the Daily News. They were walking on Amsterdam Avenue between 82nd and 83rd street.
“Zambrano handed it over, but quickly demanded it back, cop sources said. As the argument became increasingly heated, the agent fired a round. The bullet ricocheted off the concrete and hit both the woman and her boyfriend.”
…The boyfriend chased after him, and Zambrano allegedly turned to shoot but misfired — causing a live round to fall to the ground as he ran toward W. 83rd St., stunned witnesses aid.
Police officers caught up with Zambrano in front of Bustan on 84th and Amsterdam and demanded the gun, but he wouldn’t give it up. Eventually an officer knocked it out of his hands.
Zambrano was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest, and two counts of assault, according to ABC News. He lives in the neighborhood. His son said that the incident escalated because his father was drunk.
“He got drunk and did something stupid,” the agent’s son Vic Zambrano III, 22, said as he entered the stationhouse. “It just escalated. It could easily have been prevented.”
One teenager said he was waiting for a table when the man was arrested right next to him:
Okay, well I just almost got shot.
— Evan Roe (@evanroeofficial) September 13, 2014
There was a shooter outside my restaurant and I was between the shooter and the cops, it was crazy. Glad I wasn't killed.
— Evan Roe (@evanroeofficial) September 13, 2014
I was standing outside waiting for a restaurant table when we heard gunshots, and the cops came and arrested the shooter right next to me.
— Evan Roe (@evanroeofficial) September 13, 2014
He shot the video below of Zambrano being arrested:
A report from CBS News is below.
it’s gettin so ya can’t stand on the street anymo
Thanks for the quick and thorough reporting.
Two things don’t make sense here. If he aimed his gun and attempted to fire it at the boyfriend, why wasn’t the cop charged with attempted murder or manslaughter? Second thing I don’t understand is why the arresting officers didn’t incapacitate the guy when he wouldn’t give up his weapon? Wouldn’t that happen if it was a member of the general public? Oh yeah, one last thing, are off duty cops allowed to bring their weapons into bars?
You’re right, this was professional courtesy in action. Cops would have eagerly gunned down any civilian who wouldn’t give up his weapon. But another “cop?” He gets the benefit of the doubt, even when stinking drunk. And cops are not allowed to drink while holding their service weapon.
Anyone know where this jerk lives? Id like to picket outside his home until him and his stupid son decamp elsewhere… A place where drunken gunplay is the norm.
Another article identified his residence (where he was apprehended) at 84th and Amsterdam. I’d like to know why I can’t find a photo clearly showing his face. I live a block from this idiot. Who is a policeman!
Story doesn’t make sense. Zambrano hands over his weapon and then fires? How would he do that, unless he had a second gun…
imagine! a black american firing a gun on amsterdam avenue would have been shot dead almost instantly, using many bullets, and the enforcer would have been deemed a life saving hero or heroine. people are shot dead for posing far less of a threat.
and what is it with these g*d damned guns ????
I’d say it was safe to assume that no one knew he was a member of law enforcement until after the gun was out of his hand. What transpired afterwards is anyone’s guess. People need to stop assuming every cop just wants to shoot people especially if they’re minorities. It’s sad and simply untrue. How about praising the cops that showed up for NOT shooting him and doing their job safely and effectively. Now why would we do that, it’s much easier to hate those who help us stay safe in a very big and dangerous (at times) city.
Right on!
I am not a minority and I don’t assume that the vast majority of cops are trigger happy. I do believe that when an officer is confronted with a gun he/she needs to do what is necessary to protect themselves and the public. Also, I wouldn’t say it is “Safe to Say” as you are making a leap there. I know that cops have a tough and dangerous job, but based on my rare interactions with them there is an air of arrogance and that the public at large in NY is painted with the same broad brush by them. I think this has to do with many of the police officers residing in the suburbs where they don’t have to deal with us city folk on their personal time.
But aren’t you making the same broad brush assumptions? I’m not saying there aren’t jerk cops, I’ve had my run ins with them but they are, in my experience, the vast minority. When I was a I remember being on 121 street and Lexington with my grandmother and being terrified. But I saw a cop from the 25th pct standing there and I felt safe. I knew everything would be safe. Maybe it was youthful ignorance but I just remember seeing that man standing there and was calm and was able to enjoy my time withy grandmother. That’s just my experience and I understand that people have other interactions but I remember a saying that my mother told me which was “I don’t like cops for what they do, I like them for what they’re willing to do”. I’m sure as heard it somewhere and was just relaying it to me but it struck a cord. I can’t hate someone who’s wiling to take a bullet to protect me and my family. Not saying anyone here hates cops as a whole but I’m just so frustrated with people who judge a group of people based on their uniform they wear. Isn’t that hate based on appearance the same as the racism they accuse cops of having based on a persons color of their skin. That’s just my opinion and I will continue to give our men in women in blue the benefit of the doubt. I’m a minority also and may be inundated with this hate more than others.
This one lived in the neighborhood. He shoulda known better.
Well said.
Oh great, now Amsterdam Ave. now has its own version of Ferguson Lite. Why don’t we just bring back the “Naked City” TV series of the early 1960s, cause it’s staring to feel that way again.
I was there too, walking home with a friend after a 12-step meeting. The shooter might consider attending such meetings… I’m sure they have them where he’s going. Forgive me if I sound flip but his was a shocking lapse of judgement and sanity. By the grace of God nobody’s life was ended in this supremely avoidable mishap. I hope this (probably now ex-) lawman and his (apparently) culpable victim avail themselves of the help they so obviously need.
Accident?- Nonsense, alcoholism isn’t an accident, it’s an illness.
Not everyone who does stupid or illegal things while intoxicated is an alcoholic. Let’s slow down on the 12-stepping.
A couple of clarifications he was not a “cop” from the 20, 24 and or NYPD. He was a NYS narcotics officer, which could mean he has any one of hundreds of jobs. Also in ref to the gun, officer use their judgment in handling each case on its own merits, while the facts are not clear at this time it is possible that when the officers confronted him his gun was down at his side and not pointed directly at the responding officers and/or a civilian. As for the charges, as with any person arraigned, he was charged with the obvious crimes he had committed. Once the DA’s office does its investigation it is quite possible that he can be “upcharged” IE have additional charges added
And this is why we need stop and frisk – all the white guys walking around the West Side should be stopped and searched for weapons to keep the rest of us safe.
Why is there no picture of this guy?
Professional cop courtesy keep this guys face a mystery- try and find a picture! You can’t
The cops in this town. Giuliani pulled up Patrick Dorismond’s sealed juvenile records after he was killed by police, but they can’t even show a picture of the officer who let off live rounds on the Upper West Side? They can’t charge the rents they charge in this city and make people put up with this kind of crap. I hate New York
what Giuliani did with Patrick Dorismond (Sp?) was disgusting. To remind people, Dorismond was killed in a police shooting in or near Times Sqaure. Giuliani immediately tried to defame the dead man, releasing his juvenile record and claiming “he wasn’t an altar boy.” it turned out that Dorismond quite literally WAS an altar boy.
but let’s recall what Giuliani did was the work of a grandstanding right wing elected official. it was not the NYPD nor representing the NYPD.
And then he proceeded to reduce crime to incredibly low levels and make nyc the safest big city in the US. Thank you, Rudy.
oh, and Giuliani’s anti-crime policy was set by his first police commissioner. i wonder who would that be?
very disturbing but sadly not surprising to see half truths and misinformation stated at the facts.
an easy click on the article shows the author stating he “chose 2002 to be the base year for two reasons: the year 2002 is the first year for which I have data on stop-and-frisks and much of the discussion I’ve read focuses on the last decade, since Bloomberg took office.’
not that 2002 was the first year of an the effective police strategy that was destroyed by the left wing bleeding hearts who do not live in realty.
sorry, the mass racial profiling stop-and-frisk policy started in 2002 under Bloomberg.
see charts here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/naomirobbins/2012/03/23/visualizing-stop-and-frisk-and-murder-rates-in-new-york-city/2/
None other than the inventor of the very-successful stop-question-and-frisk policy! #everyliberalsahypocrite
let’s recall for a second that the big drop in crime — sustained — STARTED under Dinkins. You can look it up.
Giuliani, Bloomberg, and now De Blasio all had/have a good track record on crime. that’s no excuse for some of the ugly things Giuliani did. Patrick Dorsimond (sp?), exhibit #1.
you’re entitled to your opinion, “bud”, but not your own facts.
Dinkins passed the crime bill that drastically increased the number of cops on the street. this resulted in an accelerating decrease in violent crime in each of Dinkins’s 4 years as Mayor. decreases were especially sharp under his second police commissioner — Ray Kelly!
this chart shows the decreases:
https://simplystatistics.org/2013/12/05/nyc-crime-rates-by-yearcommissioner/
Giuliani came in and made an excellent choice for his first commissioner — Bill Bratton. crime continued to decrease rapidly in the Bratton years.
decreases continued, at a slower rate, under the other Giuliani commissioners — Safir and Bernard Kerik, who just got out of jail for his various antics as Giuliani’s commissioner.
oh please. that’s like saying someone went from 310 lbs to 308 lbs over 2 years before starting a serious diet; then they started their diet and lost 150 lbs over the next 6 years; but that diet was irrelevant because he actually lost weight before starting it. Sorry, bud. Rudy was awesome for this city.
this is not an opportunity to bring up old stories from years ago and two mayoral ships.
if you have to reach back so far for one isolated incident, I guess the NYPD is doing a very good job.
I was defending the NYPD, which i thought was pretty clear… Giuliani was responsible for defaming a crime victim, not the NYPD. Giuliani was not the NYPD.
well sorry you feel that way Mark.
NYPD, thank you again for your bravery and (usually) great work.
Just what you want..someone with trained, licensed, and armed…to do something stupid!!!
Fuckin cops!!!
copblock.org
AND ALSO..how much you want to bet…while these charges are light compared to if it was NOT a cop..AND how much you want to bet he will get OFF light on these charges….but if it was you or me?
COPBLOCK.ORG