Sandy MaloneNew York, NY – Two New York Police Department (NYPD) officers are in serious trouble with the department for leaking surveillance video of the shooting inside the 41st Precinct on Sunday morning (video below).
Police sources told the New York Post that NYPD Officers Brian Wilkens and Paul Brauer, both of whom are assigned to Midtown South, were stripped of their guns and badges and put on modified duty on Monday.
The sources said officials had determined that Officers Wilkens and Brauer were the sources of leaked video footage of a gunman opening fire on officers inside the 41st Precinct house on Feb. 9.
A police official told Blue Lives Matter that sharing the video was a stupid move on the part of the officers.
“Everything is tracked,” he said. “They had to be out of their minds to do what they did.”
The leaked videos that appeared all over social media and eventually in news broadcasts appeared to have been filmed on cell phones as the officers watched the surveillance footage on NYPD monitors.
Police sources told the New York Post that the videos were initially only shared between law enforcement officers, but somehow got leaked to the media.
The gunman featured in the video is accused of shooting two New York police officers in separate assassination attempts and has vowed to shoot more law enforcement officers once he is released from custody, prosecutors said.
Robert Williams, 44, made the threat on Sunday from the confines of his bed at Lincoln Hospital, where he was recovering from injuries he suffered after he opened fire inside the 41st Precinct station, the New York Post reported.
It was his second attack on police in 12 hours.
“I’m going to shoot one of you when I get out!” the hospitalized gunman told police, according to prosecutors.
Williams also allegedly confessed that he was responsible for the ambushes.
“[He] admitted to both shootings because he was tired of police officers,” prosecutors said, according to WABC.
The first shooting occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Saturday when Williams approached a marked NYPD van near Fox Street and East 163rd, according to the New York Post.
He asked the two officers for directions then opened fire on them, hitting 31-year-old NYPD Officer Paul Stroffolino in the chin and neck.
His partner, Officer Brian Hanlon, hit the accelerator, allowing them to escape further attack, WNBC reported.
Officer Stroffolino was rushed to a local hospital, and is expected to recover from his wounds.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said that the bullet narrowly missed the officer’s carotid artery, the New York Post reported.
Then at approximately 8 a.m. the next morning, Williams stormed into the 41st Precinct station where the effort to locate him was being coordinated and opened fire, WNBC reported.
He was armed with a 9mm SIG Sauer handgun, according to the New York Post.
NYPD Lieutenant Jose Gautreaux, who was hit in the arm by one of the gunman’s bullets, returned fire during the attack, but the shooter wasn’t hit, WNBC reported.
Williams tossed his gun to the floor and surrendered when he ran out of ammunition, according to the New York Post.
Officer Stroffolino was released from the hospital on Saturday to recover at home, and Lt. Gautreaux was released on Monday.
The New York Daily News reported that any NYPD officer can access surveillance video from inside any precinct house for investigative purposes.
NYPD confirmed that there is in fact “an ongoing investigation into the leaking of the video from inside the 41st Precinct” but provided no details about it.
Watch the leaked video here below: