The man shot by an off-duty law enforcement officer as he allegedly attempted to break into the officer’s Riverhead home Wednesday afternoon remains in critical condition in an area hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery, Suffolk County Police said yesterday.
No charges have been filed against either the alleged intruder or the off-duty officer, a police spokesperson said. The incident is under investigation, the spokesperson said.
Police acknowledged an error in the original press release issued regarding the incident. The off-duty officer is a correction officer in the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, not a deputy sheriff as originally reported by police, a Suffolk Police spokesperson confirmed yesterday.
The officer shot a man attempting to break into the officer’s home on Maple Wood Lane in Riverhead at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives said in a press release Thursday. After household residents confronted the man and attempted to stop him from entering the home and he continued to attempt to enter, police said, the officer fired one shot, striking the man. Riverhead Police and Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded. Riverhead Police called in the Suffolk Homicide Squad.
The man sustained life-threatening injuries from the gunshot wound and had emergency surgery at an area hospital, police said.
Police have so far declined to identify both the officer and the alleged intruder.
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