**LEAD STORY**
A car stop in The Bronx of a recently carjacked stolen auto by an NYPD plainclothes team ended in numerous shots being fired, and resulting in one officer dead, one off-duty officer wounded, and at least three bystanders and one suspect injured from gunfire. Late reports, this morning, indicate that three of the four suspects have been apprehended.
At 2150 hrs., EST, on Thursday, March 14, officers from the NYPD plainclothes Citywide Street Crime Unit pulled over what was reported to be a stolen BMW, which was carjacked earlier in the evening, at the intersection of The Grand Concourse and East 183 Street in The Bronx. The four occupants of the stolen car exited the vehicle shooting, hitting Police Officer Kevin Gillespie, 33, just above his protective vest. Two off-duty Transit Bureau officers enroute to work came upon the scene, one of whom was shot in the neck.
After the initial encounter, officers pursued the suspects on foot to the vicinity of East 184 St. and Creston Avenue. During this chase, shots by the perpetrators and police continued, hitting three bystanders, one 40 year old female and two fourteen year old males. One suspect was shot and apprehended at the Creston Ave. location. NYPD radio frequencies instructed units to check hospitals in their patrol areas for the possibility that one other suspect was shot. A search of the area by NYPD bloodhounds and Emergency Service Units from Emergency Squads 3 and 4 continued into the early morning with no success.
Officer Gillespie was transported to the nearby St. Barnabas Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds. The Transit officer that was shot was taken by NYC*EMS to Jacobi Hospital, where he was said to be in serious but stable condition.
Officer Gillespie, a Nassau County, Long Island, resident, leaves a wife and two young sons. Gillespi would have turned 34 next week. New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani said, "Police Officer Kevin Gillespie was a hero. He was a very, very dedicated police officer."
ENN sends its prayers and condolences to the family and friends pf Off. Gillespie.
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