Bronx, New York: Officers Shoot Armed Man Who Fired at Police Near a Daycare in Fordham

A man who police say threatened customers with a gun inside a Bronx deli and then opened fire on two police officers was shot by the officers on Monday afternoon in Fordham and taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Assistant Chief Aneudy Castillo of Patrol Borough Bronx North identified the man as Victor Soto, 49, at a press conference on Monday. Castillo said Soto went into Sammy Gourmet Deli at Bainbridge Avenue and East 194th Street at about 3:20 p.m., took out a gun, racked the weapon and pointed it at people inside the store. The customers ducked for cover, Castillo said.

What police say happened outside the deli

Castillo said Soto left the deli and walked north, and at one point slammed the gun into the glass window of the store. Two uniformed officers in a police vehicle saw him and ordered him to drop the weapon. Police say Soto instead pointed the gun at the officers and fired at them as he kept walking northbound on Bainbridge Avenue.

The officers returned fire. The New York Daily News reported that Soto was struck in the chest and the leg and was expected to survive. No officer was hit by gunfire. NBC New York reported that two officers were taken to Jacobi Hospital with tinnitus, the ringing in the ears that follows close gunfire. Police said a firearm was recovered at the scene.

The shooting happened next to a daycare. A parent who gave her name only as Alex told the New York Post that she saw the officers and the suspect firing at each other as she arrived to pick up her child from the daycare beside the deli.

The man police named

Castillo said Soto has eight prior arrests, including arrests for assault and for criminal possession of a firearm. Police did not say on Monday what charges Soto will face over the deli and the shooting, and they did not describe any dispute inside the store before he drew the gun.

Police shootings in New York City are investigated by the department, and officers involved in a shooting are routinely placed on modified duty while the facts are reviewed. The department had released no body camera footage from the Bainbridge Avenue shooting by Monday night.

What happens next

Investigators kept part of Bainbridge Avenue, between East 194th Street and East 196th Street, closed while they worked at the scene on Monday afternoon. The investigation is ongoing, and police said more information would be released as it is confirmed.

For the families at the daycare and the customers in the deli, the afternoon ended with everyone inside both buildings unharmed. The only person shot was the man police say started the gunfire.