An off-duty cop reportedly shot himself in the leg while holstering his gun at his Bronx home Tuesday afternoon.
Police responded to a home on Bailey Avenue in the Kingsbridge section shortly after 1 p.m. when a 33-year-old man was found conscious and alert with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his left leg, authorities said.
The NYPD did not immediately name the victim, but family members identified him as Demitrious Caceres, News 12 reported.
Caceres, who works as an NYPD officer out of the 1st Precinct, was off-duty at the time of the accidental shooting, sources told the outlet.
He was in stable condition when he was taken to Jacobi Medical Center by EMS, police said.
“When I came out … I saw all the cops, all the ambulances blocking everything off,” neighbor Roseann Morales told News 12.
“It’s so quiet, you could usually hear someone coughing, but we heard nothing,” she said.
Caceres’ brother, Jonathan, said the off-duty cop was preparing to leave his home and attempting to holster his gun when it accidentally fired and struck him, the outlet reported.
Jonathan said his family was initially terrified as they didn’t know how Caceres had been shot.
“As soon as I heard, I came running over,” Jonathan said, adding that his brother is OK and expected to recover.
Caceres has been with the NYPD since January 2023, according to an online police database.
“He’s very good.” Morales said of her cop neighbor. “He’s a great guy, he went to the army.”
Officers are required to carry their firearms in New York City — even while off duty, News 12 reported, citing sources.
Investigators were unable to process the scene until the homeowner gave permission to enter, and cops were later seen leaving the home with evidence bags around 6 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing, police said.
