Shot Cop, Suspect out of Hospital. Cop Went Home, Suspect Went to Rikers

A detective who was part of team attempting to execute a search warrant in a pre-dawn raid at a Lower East Side public housing project on Feb. 18 was shot in the left shoulder and rushed to Bellevue Hospital.

Cops collared a suspect, identified as Edwin Rivera, 35, at the scene after a three-hour standoff that ended in a flash of gunfire. He was charged with four counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault, and one count of criminal possession of a weapon. This time, he was remanded without custody and landed on Rikers Island.

The wounded officer was identified as Detective Terry Avent. A police spokesperson said he was released from Bellevue later on the day of the shooting and is expected to make a full recovery.

“We’re grateful for his safety, but we’re also angry,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference at Bellevue after visiting with Avent and his wife and son. “We’re angry because the shooter is a violent, repeat offender with prior gun arrests, who was on parole for narcotics use and sales,” Adams said.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch also blasted the system that allowed Rivera to be out on the street the day of the latest incident. “I want to be very clear that today [Feb. 19] is not the only time that Mr. Rivera has been arrested while out on his current parole. He was previously arrested on November 6th, 2024 for criminal possession of stolen property and resisting arrest. The Manhattan DA only charged him with resisting arrest and so sadly and predictably, and although he was on active parole, he was released the very next day.”

On the morning of the shooting, Rivera fired five to six rounds at cops when they first attempted to raid the apartment at 325 Madison St. in downtown Manhattan at 5:09 a.m.

Cops initially did not return fire, Tisch told reporters, because they believed a woman might be in the apartment with Rivera in a possible hostage situation. But that turned out to be unfounded.

The suspect eventually barricaded himself inside the apartment and police brought in a hostage negotiating team and made contact via Facetime, but Rivera eventually broke off contact. Police attempted to re-enter the apartment around 8:18 a.m., and as they were moving a sofa away from a doorway, the suspect opened fire, wounding ESU detective Avent in the left shoulder. Police officers returned fire and the suspect was hit several times on the left side. Both officer and suspect were rushed to Bellevue.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at the press conference, “The perpetrator right now, he is not in serious condition. He’s not likely to die.” In fact, he, like the wounded officer, was released later on the day of the shooting.

Prosecutors arraigned Rivera several days later, and this time he was remanded without bail and is on Rikers Island awaiting trial. Efforts to reach his attorney, Michelle Hauser, were not successful at press time.

Tisch said Rivera is “a career criminal, convicted felon with multiple priors for gun possession and narcotics. He has been on parole four times and he is actually on parole today.”

Adams said of the wounded officer, “He’s in good spirits and just wants to get back to work.”

When Straus News arrived at the crime scene on Feb. 18, around 10 a.m., yellow crime-scene tape ringed the plaza outside 384 Madison St., one of the 20 buildings in the NYCHA project known as Vladeck Houses and named for a Minsk-born activist who emigrated to New York City and founded the Jewish Forward newspaper.

The mood among the officers on the scene that morning was serious but congenial as news spread that the wounded officer was doing well.