The third suspect in a shooting that left a New York City police officer paralyzed and his partner wounded was captured early Thursday in the Pennsylvania woods.
A bloodhound picked up Robert Ellis’ scent near Tannersville, Pa., not far from where another suspect was apprehended Wednesday. Ellis tried to run but was captured by two Pennsylvania state troopers, said Pennsylvania State Police Capt. James Murtin.
State troopers had captured Dexter Bostic along the remote section of Interstate 80 on Wednesday, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. But Ellis had eluded the troopers and disappeared into a wide, wooded median, police said.
“It appears that he hunkered down for the night with no attempt to escape,” Murtin said Thursday.
Bostic and Ellis, both 34, had been the subjects of an intense manhunt since Monday, when two New York City police officers were shot after pulling over a stolen SUV in Brooklyn.
Officer Russel Timoshenko, 23, was shot in the face and neck and left paralyzed with brain swelling and unable to breathe on his own, Assistant District Attorney Anna-Siegga Nicolazzi said Wednesday. Officer Herman Yan, likely saved by his bulletproof vest, was released from a hospital Tuesday.
The other suspect, Lee Woods, 29, was arrested Monday. A criminal complaint described Woods as the driver of the SUV but not a shooter. He was ordered held without bail on charges of attempted murder, assault of a police officer, weapon possession and other counts.
Afternoon hearing
Investigators say Bostic and Ellis both opened fire when the officers approached the SUV early Monday. Yan managed to return fire before the SUV sped away.
Kelly said the men initially evaded police with the help of an unidentified man who agreed to drive them to the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Police located that driver Tuesday after getting a tip, and the driver revealed the suspects’ whereabouts.
A passing motorist spotted Ellis and Bostic walking along a rural section of Interstate 80 on Wednesday, police said, and investigators followed a trail of muddy footprints and food wrappers and eventually caught up with the two.
An afternoon extradition hearing was scheduled Thursday for both suspects in Stroudsburg, Pa.