News 12 reported that a man accused of shooting a woman in Greenlawn, on Long Island, is now under arrest after an hours-long manhunt that ended dozens of miles away in Westchester County. The dramatic conclusion came on the grounds of a school in New Rochelle, where officers finally caught up with the suspect and brought a tense day of searching to a close.
The violence began in Greenlawn, where the man allegedly shot a woman on Lee Street during a domestic incident before fleeing the scene. That shooting set off an intensive search that would eventually stretch across roughly 40 miles and several hours, as law enforcement tried to work out where the suspect had gone and how to catch up with him.
For much of the day the hunt played out in dramatic fashion, with helicopters in the air and roads being shut down as the search widened. The station said it was about eight hours after the initial shooting that police finally caught up with the man, far from where the incident had started, on the property of a New Rochelle school.
Exclusive video aired by News 12 showed the moment of capture, with the suspect running across the school field as officers pursued him on foot. The footage captured the end of a flight that had taken him off Long Island and deep into Westchester, a county on the far side of New York City from where the woman had been shot.
State police said the escape attempt had also turned dangerous out on the road. Investigators said the man crashed and then abandoned his car on Interstate 95 while trying to get away, adding another layer of risk to a pursuit that already had officers shutting down roads and scrambling aircraft across the region.
People who lived near the scene of the original shooting were left shaken by what had unfolded in their neighborhood. One resident described the moment of realizing something terrible had happened, recalling, "I run outside to see what happened, and what I saw, it was like this poor woman," as the seriousness of the attack began to sink in.
The man at the center of the case, who is 37 years old, is now due in court to face assault charges in connection with the shooting. News 12 said the arrest brought an end to a search that had drawn a heavy police presence across two counties, even as the investigation into the domestic incident that triggered it continues.