Two New York Police Officers Shot in the Bronx

Updated | Two New York City police officers were shot in the Bronx around 10:30 p.m. on Monday during a search for suspects in an armed robbery. One officer was shot in the chest and arm and the other was shot in the back and arm. The officers were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital and are in stable condition. The suspects in the shooting remain at large. 

The shooting occurred after the officers, reportedly part of a five-member plainclothes anticrime team, were responding to a report of an armed robbery at a grocery store and tried to aproach two suspects. One man reportedly entered a restaurant while the other remained on the sidewalk. When one of the officers approached the man on the sidewalk, the suspect inside the restaurant began shooting at the officers, who returned fire. The suspects then fled, allegedly carjacking a vehicle which was later found abandoned. A gun was found at the scene.

A manhunt has begun for the suspects and police plan to release video footage of the incident, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Two NYPD Officers have been shot in the 46 Pct. Please pray for them.

— NYPD 121st Precinct (@NYPD121Pct) January 6, 2015

The shooting comes less than a month after two NYPD officers were shot and killed while sitting in their patrol car, in what the gunman claimed was a revenge killing for the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, who died shortly after being placed in a chokehold by Pantaleo during an arrest.

The relationship between the police force and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has come under strain in recent months, with police accusing the mayor of not supporting them at a time of protests over the excessive use of police force. 

A spokesperson for the NYPD told the New York Times the police officers in Monday's shooting were not targeted. A $10,000 cash reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects involved in the shooting. Information can be anonymously reported to 1-800-COP-SHOT.