Seward Park Cop Shooter Still at Large

Nearly three weeks ago, in the wake of Independence Day festivities, fireworks of another sort ignited on the Lower East Side. As previously reported, the Seward Park Extension public housing complex was the site of a cop shooting in the early morning hours of July 5. Police officer Brian Groves took a shot from a distance of eight feet and survived thanks to a bullet-proof vest.

The shooter is described as a 5’9″ black man in his early 20s donning corn-rows and long red shorts, and remains at large. “Wanted” signs plastered in the immediate vicinity of Essex and Grand Streets, and even as far south as the Vladecks, indicate that the reward has been upped by $10,000. Authorities are now offering a sum of $22,000 – pooled from the NYPD, Cop Shot Program, and Crime Stoppers – for information that leads to the arrest and capture of the perp.

Meanwhile, the more sophisticated police vehicles (i.e. mobile command center) have been parked outside 64 Essex Street for the last few days.