NEW YORK _ A New York Police Department detective was shot and killed, and a sergeant was wounded in a furious gun battle Tuesday night with an armed robber in Queens, law enforcement sources said.
According to sources, police were responding to an armed robbery at a T-Mobile cellphone store in the Richmond Hill neighborhood at around 6:14 p.m.
A 19-year veteran detective and a squad sergeant were struck by gunfire as the suspect holed up inside the store, sources said.
Police Commissioner James O'Neill confirmed the bloodshed, tweeting: "An on-duty NYPD officer has been shot in Queens during what appears to be an armed robbery."
Officers frantically called for help after a rain of bullets.
"Shots fired! Shots fired!" one frantic officer could be heard screaming on emergency radio transmissions. "Central, he's in the store. He's going to the back ... He's still in the store, central. He's still in the store."
At another point, a sergeant radioed: "Be advised, I'm shot. The perp's in the location."
Police officers on the scene desperately called for a "blood bank" _ a sign that an officer was in life-threatening need of a transfusion.
Dozens of stunned and grieving police officers rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where the wounded sergeant was being treated. Inside the packed lobby, police officers were seen hugging and crying.
