NYPD Bronx shooting: 3 people in custody

BRONX, N.Y. (KABC) -- Police have three people -- believed to be the gunman, his friend and an accomplice -- in custody in connection with the shooting of two police officers in the Fordham section of the Bronx Monday night.

The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. at East 184th Street and Tiebout Avenue as the officers, who were part of a five-member plain clothes anti-crime team, were searching for suspects wanted in an armed robbery.

Near the corner of East 184th Street, authorities say the officers saw two possible suspects. As they approached them, one of the suspects reportedly entered a Chinese restaurant on Tiebout Avenue while the other remained outside. The officers walked up to the man on the street, and the other suspect inside the store came out and opened fire on the officers, who returned fire.

Officers Andrew Dossi and Aliro Pellerano were hit in the exchange. The two suspects then fled on foot toward Marion Avenue, where they allegedly carjacked a white Camaro that was later abandoned near East 188th Street and Park Avenue. A black revolver was also recovered nearby.

The suspected gunman, 24-year-old Jason Polanco, of the Bronx, was being closely tracked by detectives, who had determined his daily routine after his name was provided by multiple tipsters who saw his picture and called CrimeStoppers. He was taken into custody late Tuesday morning while getting off the No. 6 subway train at the station at East Tremont Avenue and Westchester Avenue.

The 28-year-old accomplice is believed to have shown up with a gunshot wound at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center at 11 p.m. Monday. He has been in police custody at the hospital since then.

A third man, Elio Rivera, said to be a friend of the gunman, is also in custody, but his role in the shooting is unclear and described as "in flux."

Pellerano, 38, was shot in the chest and arm, while Dossi, 30, was struck in the arm and lower back. The officers were rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital. Dossi was in critical condition after surgery, while Pellerano was stable. Both are expected to survive.

The two officers live minutes apart in Rockland County and carpool daily to the Bronx.

Dossi, an 8-year veteran of the force, is an Army reservist who has done two tours in Iraq and was scheduled to go to North Africa next week. He has an 8-year-old daughter.

WABC-TV spoke to Dossi's father, who visited his son at the hospital. He said his son was more concerned with the other officer who was shot and whether the suspects had been caught.

Pellerano has been on the force for nine years and has a son and a daughter, both of whom have tweeted. His son wrote, "1 bullet won't slow you down," and his daughter wrote, "tomorrows gonna be so hard, good luck pops."