A plainclothes police officer suffered a gunshot wound to the head by a man who fired into his unmarked police car Saturday in Queens, New York Police Department officials said.

The suspected gunman, whom police identified as Demitrius Blackwell, was apprehended after an intensive 90-minute search of the neighborhood.

The wounded officer, Brian Moore, 25, was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and rushed into surgery. He was said to be in critical, but stable condition, according to police sources

The shooting occurred at about 6:15 p.m. when Moore and his partner, Officer Erik Jansen, approached a "person of interest" near the intersection of 212th Street and 104th Road in the Queens Village neighborhood, investigators said.

Police Commissioner William Bratton said during a news conference that the man the officers approached was "adjusting an object in his waistband." He then turned and fired several times into the unmarked car, he said.

Only Moore was struck by gunfire. Neither officer had time to return fire as the gunman fled on foot, Bratton said. Jansen immediately radioed for assistance, he said.



Police scoured the area and were seen walking on roofs and looking under parked cars.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had rushed to the hospital where the officer was being treated, said during the news conference that he was pleased that members of the community helped police locate the gunman.

"It's a painful day for all of us," he said.

More is a member of a "police family," Bratton said. His father and uncle are retired officers.

Blackwell has an extensive arrest record, the commissioner added. "He also has done time (in prison)," he said.

The shooting comes less than six months after two NYPD officers were shot and killed in the wake of a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner.