NYPD Officer Shot and Wounded in Bronx

A plainclothes NYPD officer was wounded in a shootout with a suspect spotted in the Soundview section of the Bronx Tuesday night as officers investigated a past shooting.

31-year-old Officer Daniel Vargas was shot in the back after members of the Gun Violence Suppression Division saw the man on Lafayette Avenue near White Plains Road just before 10:30 p.m.

The suspect ran as police pulled over. Officers gave chase, and he turned and fired four times, striking the officer once in the lower back, just below his protective vest, ABC7 reports.

Officer Vargas fired once, but the 24-year-old suspect was not hit. The suspect is in custody

Vargas was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center by fellow officers, where he was in stable condition at last report.

"It looks like he's going to make a very strong recovery. So we are counting our blessings tonight," Mayor Bill de Blasio added.