Yonkers police pursued a trio of suspects across city lines and into Van Cortlandt Park early in the morning on Feb. 4.

A representative of the Yonkers police department said officers on patrol nearby noticed a man in a gray 2003 Chevrolet Malibu placing a shotgun in a duffel bag. When they approached him, he opened the car door and ran.

“One of our officers recovered the bag and we chased him,” the police source said. Inside the bag, they found a loaded black 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun with a flashlight and laser attached to the barrel.

A K-9 team was brought in and police said the man, 20-year-old Maxwell Suero, appeared to be cornered at Elinor Place. But he managed to escape.

“He fought very violently with the police officers, hitting the police canine,” the source said.

Mr. Suero kicked and punched both officers and the police dog, police said.
At least six squad cars and three large police trucks pursued Mr. Suero and two others into Van Cortlandt Park early Saturday morning — driving up onto the baseball field grass near West 262nd Street and Broadway and driving toward the adjacent woods — while a helicopter hovered overhead.

As police chased the suspects, Jon Wong witnessed the action from his girlfriend’s apartment, which overlooks the park.

“One of her roommates was going to bed and yelled, ‘Oh! Look out the window, there’s crazy stuff going on,” Mr. Wong said. “We saw … police cars with their floodlights pointed into Van Cortlandt Park. We kept watching and more police cars showed up. Then we noticed a few, maybe two or three police officers went on foot, with flashlights, into the woods.”

Mr. Wong said a helicopter began circling the area, shining a floodlight into the forest, soon after.

Mr. Suero was apprehended at around 1:30 a.m. and initially gave police a false name, they said. Two other suspects are still at large. They are described by Yonkers police as Hispanic men who are approximately 5-foot-8 and six feet tall. It is not clear how they are associated with Mr. Suero.

A woman who was in the car with Mr. Suero was brought in for questioning by Yonkers detectives.

Mr. Suero, who lives in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, was charged in Westchester County Criminal Court with criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration, attempting to kill or injure a police animal and false personation.