Wounded police officer released from hospital

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - The NYPD officer who was shot Thursday has been released from the hospital. Police Officer Hart Nguyen left Jamaica Hospital in Queens Friday afternoon to applause and cheers from his brothers and sisters in blue.

Nguyen was shot in the chest and arm while responding to a 911 call about an emotionally disturbed person in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn. His ballistic vest stopped two rounds, which likely saved his life, the NYPD commissioner said. One round penetrated his right arm.

Commissioner James O'Neill visited him Thursday and Friday. He said Nguyen is in good spirits. And it certainly showed when he came out those front doors.

"I think he's just real happy that he's OK and he's real happy that he survived," O'Neill said. "Face the facts – we're lucky he survived."

Earlier, the commissioner expressed his gratitude that his officer is OK after being shot.

"A lot of rounds fired at a very close distance," O'Neill said. "So he feels real happy to be alive."

On Thursday, a woman called 911 about her 29-year-old son. She told emergency officials her son was with her in the home and that he was unarmed and not violent.

Some officers and EMS staff entered the home while Nguyen and his partner went to the rear of the home because the woman said her son might try to escape from the back, O'Neill said. As Nguyen approached the rear bedroom, the woman's son fired several shots, hitting Nguyen.

EMS treated Nguyen at the scene and then rushed him to Jamaica Hospital.

The gunman barricaded himself inside the bedroom and refused to come out.

Several hours later, tactical officers with the Emergency Service Unit entered the room and found the man dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, O'Neill said at a news conference Thursday. Officers found a semiautomatic pistol, a revolver, and ammunition at his side.%INLINE%

"What he did yesterday is what he gets paid to do and why he became a police officer," O'Neill said. "I'm real proud of him. I'm real proud of his partner. And I'm real proud of the men and women of the 75 Precinct."

Nguyen, 30, has been on the police force for just over two years.