2 Officers Shot on Lower East Side in Street Chase of Robbery Suspect

A gunman shot two police sergeants who were trying to arrest him minutes after an armed robbery in a mahjong parlor on the Lower East Side in Manhattan on Thursday, Police Department officials said.

One officer was shot in the groin, and the other was grazed by a bullet in the leg, Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives, said at a news conference on Thursday at Bellevue Hospital, where the officers were being treated for their wounds. Both were in stable condition, said Chief Kenny, who was joined at the news conference by Mayor Eric Adams.

The sergeant who was grazed will be released from the hospital on Thursday night, and the sergeant who was shot in the groin will be held overnight for observation. A man, Joshua Dorsett, 22, was taken into custody at the scene, Chief Kenny said.

Around 4:15 p.m., the police responded to a 911 call regarding a man on the second floor of a building on Canal Street near Eldridge Street, Chief Kenny said. The man, whom the police later identified as Mr. Dorsett, had pulled out a gun and pointed it at several women at the mahjong parlor, a popular neighborhood spot where people gather and bet money on mahjong games, he said.

Mr. Dorsett demanded that the women hand over their purses. He grabbed a number of purses, ran out of the building and fled north on foot, Chief Kenny said. Seven minutes later, police officers on Delancey Street saw Mr. Dorsett, who fit the description of the gunman.

A footchase ensued. Francisco Huayta, who works on the Lower East Side, was on the corner of Delancey and Eldridge Streets shortly after 4 p.m. when he saw a man sprinting away from police officers, he said. The two sergeants grabbed Mr. Dorsett and pushed him up against a vehicle, Chief Kenny said. The sergeants demanded that he show his hands. As they did, Mr. Dorsett began to pull a loaded gun out of his front pants pocket, Chief Kenny said.