2 men charged in shooting of NYPD cop in Queens

Authorities have charged two young men in connection with the shooting and attempted carjacking of a 22-year-old off-duty NYPD officer in Queens.

The shooting happened at about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday near Beach 62nd Street and Beach Channel Drive in the Arverne neighborhood of the Rockaway Peninsula. The officer was driving to work at the time. It was unclear if he was wearing his uniform.

Cops arrested Chad Collie, 19, and Jayare Robinson, 18, about three blocks from where the shooting happened, the NYPD said.

Police said Collie and Robinson walked up to the officer's car at a red light and one of them tapped the driver's side window with a gun, prompting the officer to get out of his car. Collie then opened fire, striking the officer in the shoulder, police said. The officer fired back but didn't hit the suspects.

Police said this handgun was used in an attempted robbery and shooting of an off-duty police officer in Queens. (NYPD Photo)

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Officers from the 100th Precinct rushed to the scene and spotted the suspects nearby. Police said the men opened fire at the officers' unmarked police car striking a bumper. Cops chased the suspects on foot and arrested them a short time later.

"Grateful our off-duty officer, who was shot during an attempted car-jacking, is going to be ok," First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban said in a tweet. "The responding officers who apprehended the suspects in this crime showed incredible restraint — despite being shot at by the suspects, they did not return fire during the arrest."

Collie faces four counts of second-degree attempted murder, robbery, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and reckless endangerment charges. Robinson faces a robbery charge. Both men live nearby.

The wounded officer was in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital on Wednesday, police said. He is the sixth NYPD cop shot in the city so far this year. Two cops were fatally shot in Harlem less than two weeks ago. 

"We can't allow to happen is that it becomes routine to open up the newspaper or turn on the news in the morning and hear that another NYPD officer was shot," said PBA President Pat Lynch during an overnight briefing at Jamaica Hospital.