Detective Edgar Rios underwent surgery in the morning and remained at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, hospital spokeswoman Jayne O’Connor said. The 35-year police veteran was in critical but stable condition, police spokesman Lt. Mark Keiffer said.
TRENTON — A day after two police detectives were injured during a fatal shootout on Hobart Avenue, one remained in critical condition at the hospital and the other was released to finish his recovery at home, officials said yesterday.
Detective Edgar Rios underwent surgery in the morning and remained at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, hospital spokeswoman Jayne O’Connor said. The 35-year police veteran was in critical but stable condition, police spokesman Lt. Mark Keiffer said.
Rios, 53, suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen, causing internal bleeding, when he and Detective James Letts were investigating a domestic violence incident Thursday morning and a suspect opened fire on them. They returned fire and killed the shooter, who police identified as 23-year-old Eric McNeil.
Letts, who was shot in the shoulder, was released from the hospital yesterday and is recovering at home, O’Connor said. At Letts’ parents’ home in Hamilton yesterday, a woman who said she was his sister said he was doing well and recovering from his injury.
She did not give her name.
Friends of Rios said they were guardedly optimistic that he will recover. He has had two surgeries and doctors put him in a medically-induced coma yesterday, according to two friends with knowledge of his condition.
The Community Blood Council of New Jersey will hold an emergency blood drive on Monday from noon to 6 p.m. in honor of Letts and Rios to support blood supplies at Capital Health Regional Medical Center. The drive will take place at the Trenton Fire Headquarters, 244 Perry St.
Yama Blue, the woman the officers were taking home as part of a domestic violence investigation when they were shot, said yesterday that Rios and Letts “saved my life.”
“My heart goes out for them and their families,” she said yesterday evening, as she sat on the porch of her home where the shooting occurred. “I love them officers, I love them to death.”
Blue said she had broken up with McNeil but that he kept coming back to her. Inside the house, Blue’s television and radio were smashed and broken, and out front she had lit a candle for her 3-week-old pitbull puppy, which officials said McNeil stabbed and killed a few hours before the shootout.
The incident that left Rios and Letts wounded began early Thursday morning, when McNeil beat up Blue and stabbed the puppy to death, officials said. Police officers went to the house at 2:30 a.m., and took her to the hospital for evaluation and then to police headquarters.
When Rios and Letts returned to the Hobart Avenue home with Blue and a crime scene photographer at around 8:43 a.m., McNeil shot at them, officials said. He fired at least three times and the officers returned fire.
Internal affairs investigators with the Trenton police and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office are investigating, as is standard in police-involved shootings under state Attorney General guidelines, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.
The gunfire that sent the officers to the hospital was part of a string of violent incidents that have shocked residents and drawn attention from state law enforcement officials.
The violence continued yesterday morning, when a 25-year-old city man was killed in his home on the 600 block of North Olden Avenue. Police said three men forced entry into the man’s home and shot him.
To address the violence, acting Attorney General John Hoffman on Thursday announced two new initiatives that he said will help take criminals off the streets.
The Targeted Anti-Gun initiative directs Mercer County prosecutors only to offer dangerous offenders charged with weapons offenses plea deals that require them to remain jailed for at least three and a half years. The plan also includes an advertising blitz warning people about the punishments for being caught in public with a gun and publicising Trenton’s confidential tipline.
The Targeted Integrated Deployment Effort (TIDE) will send uniformed and plainclothes State Police troopers into the most violent areas of Trenton, Hoffman said. While troopers have been deployed previously in Trenton, in the new operation they will more more use of police intelligence to better target offenders and locations, he said.
The TIDE initiative kicked off with a warrant sweep early Thursday in which 15 people with outstanding warrants that were taken into custody, the State Police said. The names of the individuals and the charges they face were not released.
To provide police with information about crimes in the city, residents may call the confidential tipline at (609) 989-3663.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.
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