Intense manhunt after two NYC cops wounded

updated 9:19 a.m. ET July 9, 2007

NEW YORK - Gunmen in a stolen sport utility vehicle shot and wounded two New York City police officers during a traffic stop early Monday, gravely injuring one of the officers, police said.

A manhunt was under way for the three occupants of the SUV. Police said the shots apparently were fired by two of them.

“The suspects in this brazen shooting are still at large,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference at the hospital where the officers were taken.

Officer Russell Timoshenko, 23, was shot in the face and neck, and was in “extremely critical condition,” Kelly said. Officer Herman Yan, 26, was in stable condition.

The officers were shot at about 2:30 a.m. in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn when they pulled over a black BMW SUV with license plates belonging to another car. A security video captured the shooting, and another video showed three men, believed to be the suspects, ducking into a driveway after seeing a patrol car approach.

Police found the SUV abandoned near the shooting scene. Inside it were two .45-caliber shell casings, Kelly said. The SUV had been stolen from a dealership.

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