According to authorities, a suspect has been detained and charged in connection with the killing of rookie NYPD officer Brett Boller in Queens.
Charges of first-degree attempted murder of a police officer, second-degree illegal possession of a firearm, and obstruction of government administration were brought against Devin Spraggins, 22, on Friday.
“Today we are announcing the arrest of a 22-year-old Queens man for the shooting of an NYPD officer earlier this week Wednesday,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said said during a morning press conference.
Spraggins will be charged later today, the commissioner promised, and he would be “held to account.”
Spraggins, who was apprehended by federal agents in the Bronx overnight, is accused of shooting Boller once during a combative argument on Wednesday over a seat on an MTA bus in Jamaica.
After shooting Boller and discarding his hoodie and jacket, Spraggins was seen on camera getting into a black Nissan Lyft, which was later found at a residence around 215th Street and 102nd Avenue in Queens, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.
After that, police were able to identify probable matches to the shooting suspect on social media profiles belonging to residents of the house on 215th Street.
Around 7 p.m. on Thursday, a search warrant was issued and executed at that house, and officers discovered a pair of trainers there that Essig said were thought to have belonged to Spraggins, who wasn’t present at the time.
Following information from detectives that connected Spraggins to a different Bronx house, the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force descended on a residence in the 4500 block of Bronx Boulevard around 9 p.m. and captured Spraggins “quickly and without incident.”
A weapon of the 9mm calibre was found on the scene. Although the exact weapon used in the cop’s shooting is unknown, shells and a magazine of the same calibre were discovered at the scene of the crime.
The gunfire started at 3:20 p.m. When Spraggins, according to Essig, boarded a municipal bus on Wednesday, he allegedly accosted a passenger by saying, “Why are you staring at me? Get out of here, please.
The MTA driver then reportedly flagged down two nearby police officers when the 22-year-old man allegedly drew a revolver on the passenger.
After forcing an NYPD officer out of the way, Spraggins thereafter left on foot. Boller, who has only been on the force for three months, started pursuing.
Spraggins and Boller were fighting on the ground in the middle of 161st Street, according to distressing security footage that The Post was able to get. Spraggins then reportedly opened fire, shooting the officer in the right hip.
The shooter abandoned his jacket, mask, and sweatshirt as he fled to disguise himself; these items were subsequently found in a parking garage.
At the scene, Boller received assistance from his fellow NYPD cops before being transported quickly to Jamaica Hospital, where he was recuperating after surgery.
The son of a Brooklyn North precinct NYPD inspector, Boller hails from Hauppauge, Long Island.
“I spoke with inspector Don Boller,” Essig said Friday. “He and his family are very relieved and grateful, but being a member of the Detective Bureau he was not surprised at the swiftness of the arrest.”
Essig said of Spraggins that he was “not known” to the NYPD before Wednesday and has no arrest record he could speak of, adding: “we know he’s a transient. He bounces around from here to here.”
