Bronx shooting by off-duty officer under investigation after man critically injured

Updated 3/26/26.

An off-duty New York Police Department officer shot a 30-year-old man in the head March 16 in front of 167 West 231st Street just after 9 p.m., police said. As of March 23, the victim was in critical condition and the officer was suspended without pay, according to police.

Police said the incident was related to a previously reported stolen vehicle, and the officer had an interaction with several men before firing. The case is under investigation by the NYPD Force Investigation Division.

According to reporting by The New York Times and the Gothamist, the officer involved was 44-year-old Jonathan Baez. The NYPD declined to confirm or deny the officer’s identity to The Press.

According to online police records, Baez joined the force in January 2014. He was assigned to the Intelligence Bureau Uniformed Operations Unit in February last year, and has no disciplinary history.

Security footage from Bronx Public, a bar and restaurant across the street from where the shooting took place, appears to show the officer stepping out of a dark-colored car behind a white sedan at 9:04 p.m. The victim appears to be walking toward the white car, when the off-duty officer appears to approach him with his right arm raised, holding a gun. The officer then appears to fire and the victim collapses out of the camera’s sight behind the white car. About a minute later, the white car sped off.

A rogue bullet from the incident went through the window of Bronx Public, shattering the glass, interior security footage shows. No customers were sitting near the window. Bronx Public manager Ada Gomez said police searched for the bullet but did not recover it. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment on the search for the bullet.

A 10-year Kingsbridge resident, Gomez said she’s noticed a recent increase in crime in the neighborhood. Since December, tenants in her building on Irwin Avenue have been victims of car break-ins, according to Gomez. On the same block as her restaurant, police also reported a robbery and a sex crime in the last month.

The robbery took place on March 5, when an unidentified person went into Y Tech at 145 West 231st St., broke the display case with a hammer and stole seven cellphones. On his way out, the person struck a customer with the hammer. The victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition, according to police.

Emily Gomez, who shares no relation to Ada Gomez, is a sales associate at Y Tech who was working during the robbery. She said she grew up in the Bronx, but never felt unsafe in the borough until now.

Roughly two weeks before that, on Feb. 17, a 37-year-old woman was walking near Albany Crescent and West 231st Street when a man came up and started talking to her. He kept following her from behind, and grabbed her buttocks over her clothing before fleeing.

Police said no arrests have been made in either incident and the investigations are ongoing.

In the wake of recent crimes, Ada Gomez said she thinks greater Riverdale is no longer the quiet area it once was.

“Before, when you said you lived in this area, people would know you’re safe,” Ada Gomez said.

Ada Gomez has managed Bronx Public for a year and a half. Before that she owned Con Sabor Latino, the Dominican restaurant on Bailey Avenue that closed down due to a four-alarm electrical fire that ripped through four other businesses in November 2021.