A man who opened a door and fired a shotgun at an NYPD officer inside a Brownsville apartment building Monday died after the officer struck him with return fire, police said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference that the chaotic incident unfolded on Thomas S. Boyland Street near Linden Boulevard. Tisch said police were first called to the address after emergency medical workers notified them around 6 a.m. about a different man who had been shot and killed at the building.
Tisch identified that man as Leroy Wallace and said he was found dead on the sidewalk. She said police believe he was shot in the building’s vestibule and stumbled outside and collapsed.
Officers from the 73rd Precinct arrived to investigate, and two stayed to secure the scene, according to Tisch — one outside near Wallace’s body and the other in the vestibule, where a shotgun shell casing was discovered.
Tisch said a man opened an apartment door on the first floor around 7:45 a.m. and fired at the officer in the hallway “at close range with a shotgun,” striking him on the left side of his face. The officer shot back, and the man barricaded himself inside the apartment, she said.
Tisch said that officer, Sharjeel Waris, 25, was rushed to Brookdale Hospital and is in stable condition. Police recovered a shotgun at the apartment building and said Wallace, 41, lived there.
Waris has been an NYPD officer for four years and works in the 73rd Precinct, Tisch said, adding he was “in good spirits” at the hospital. He was discharged at noon Monday.
“This could have ended very differently,” Tisch said. “What happened this morning is a reminder of how quickly danger finds the men and women who protect this city.”
While responding to a call about Waris being shot, two other NYPD officers collided in their car with a driver at New Lots Avenue nearby, the police commissioner said. All three people in the crash were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Tisch said.
Members of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit went to the shooting scene and secured the perimeter around the building, according to authorities. They broke a window on the first floor, flew a drone into the apartment where the man was barricaded, and saw on the camera he was “lying motionless on the kitchen floor” with the shotgun near him, Tisch said.
Police entered the apartment to render aid, but the man was declared dead on site, according to the commissioner. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said police do not believe the man shot himself and were investigating whether Wallace’s killing resulted from a dispute with a neighbor.
Family members and community advocate Burchell Marcus later identified the man as Dashawn Larode, though police said they were still looking into whether he shot Wallace. Marcus, who noted he’s long known the family, said Larode lived in the apartment with his sister.
Police respond to the scene of an officer shot in Brownsville on Nov. 17, 2025.
Sissan Larode, Dashawn’s aunt, said the family is struggling to process what happened. She said Larode’s sister was in the apartment during the incident and notified the rest of the family her brother was shot.
“She called frantic and she said all she heard her brother say [was] 'raise your hands up, the cops requested us to raise our hands up,’ and like six shots went in,” Sissan said.
She said her nephew was honorably discharged from the U.S. military in 2023 and had completed school to be a barber. He was also attending music school.
John Bell, who said he does maintenance for the building owner, recalled visiting Larode’s apartment within the past two months and said he was unaware of any strife between Larode and Wallace.
“Seeing both parties, [I] never thought something like this would happen,” Bell said, adding that the men shared a wall between their apartments.
Officials told people to avoid the area and expect delays during the emergency response. There was a large police presence at the scene Monday morning.
Mayor Eric Adams said he was briefed on the shooting and praying for the officer’s recovery. His first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, visited the officer at the hospital.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also expressed sympathy for the officer and said state police were prepared to assist with the situation.
This story has been updated with additional information.
