Police Investigate Suspended Cadet's Shooting

Yesterday, a 22-year-old man was shot while entering an apartment building on St. John Avenue in the Bronx. The victim, Tommy Rodriguez, who is in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital, is described as either a former or suspended NYPD cadet. The NY Times says that Rodriguez's work "involved tasks like answering phones and organizing news clippings...in the public information office from January until sometime in May, when he was dismissed from the program after he was arrested in connection with a domestic dispute." (Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty to charges that he punched and kicked a "female domestic partner and push[ed] her head into a wall.") According to the Daily News, the shooter "approached Rodriguez from behind" and "fled on foot after firing a single shot." Rodriguez reportedly told a 911 operator that the shooter asked if he was "Officer Rodriguez," but the Post reports that cops are investigating to see whether the gunshot wound was self-inflicted.