Syracuse, NY – Police in Syracuse investigated a shooting on Shonnard Street last Friday after hearing gunshots while on routine patrol. A Syracuse police officer was able to subdue one of the armed teenage suspects who reached for his gun by using a taser.
Quick thinking by the officer during a scuffle possibly saved the boy’s life after he tried to pull his gun on the arresting officer.
According to police, at around 12:48 p.m. SPD Officer Ettinger was on routine patrol when he heard several gunshots ring out in the area of the 100 block of Shonnard Street.
“Officer Ettinger rushed toward the area where he observed two males running from where the shots were fired and toward West Onondaga Street. Officer Ettinger followed the two males and located them hiding behind 352 West Onondaga Street, which is a multi-family apartment building,” the Syracuse Police Department reported today. “After the males fled, Officer Ettinger was able to catch up with them and order both of them to the ground, where he held them at taser point and requested additional patrol units to assist.”
The officer, according to the department, continued to give commands to both males who refused to comply.
“Ettinger got one of the males to go to the ground however that suspect actively resisted the officer’s efforts to secure him and in doing so, twisted his body, thereby revealing a silver handgun he had tucked in the waistband of his pants. Officer Ettinger saw the suspect reach for the gun and immediately reacted by grabbing the suspects left arm,” the department said. “The suspect was able to reach the handgun with his right hand where he attempted to remove it. Officer Ettinger elected to use his departmental issued Taser and subsequently deployed it at the suspect’s back, thereby preventing the suspect from using the weapon against him.”
The weapon possessed by the suspect was a Taurus model G2C, 9 mm caliber, semi-automatic handgun, which was found to have a filed off serial number and was seated with an extended, high capacity magazine. The handgun had one round in the chamber, and had multiple rounds still present in the extended magazine. A total of (10) spent 9 mm casings were recovered from the roadway in the 100 block of Shonnard Street, in front of Seymour School.
Police learned the suspect was a 15-year-old juvenile during their investigation.