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Man charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting of 2 NYPD cops on Saturday, Sunday

Posted at 7:01 AM, Feb 10, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-10 10:53:45-05

NEW YORK — Police charged a Bronx man accused of ambushing and shooting NYPD officers with attempted murder on Sunday night.

Robert Williams, 45, was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest for the two shootings.

Police said Williams was transported from a hospital to central booking late Sunday night before midnight. The accused gunman had been hospitalized for unspecified injuries after being taken into custody Sunday morning.

Williams has a lengthy criminal history, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.

"He was paroled in 2017 for an incident in which an individual in the Bronx was shot, a subsequent carjacking of a female, and then a crash of a car where he engaged in a gunfight with members of the New York City Police Department. That was in 2002," Shea said. "He was convicted of attempted murder and was paroled in 2017."

Police say Williams is responsible for shooting at two officers in a police van Saturday night in the Bronx, striking one police officer in the chin and neck. That officer was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon.

Williams is also accused of opening fire inside a precinct on Sunday morning in the Longwood section of the Bronx, striking an NYPD lieutenant in the arm. The lieutenant remains hospitalized but is expected to be released Monday.

Williams had been set to appear in court soon on a separate charge before this weekend's shootings.

The accused shooter is set to be arraigned on the new charges Monday.

This story was originally published by Aliza Chasan on WPIX in New York.