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This undated photo released by the New York City Police Department shows officer Brian Moore.(Photo: AP)
A man accused of shooting a New York City police officer in the head was ordered held without bail Sunday on charges including attempted murder.
Demetrius Blackwell, 35, appeared in court for his arraignment in a torn jumpsuit with his hands cuffed behind his back and legs shackled.
He was arrested Saturday night in the shooting of officer Brian Moore, who remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition after surgery. Doctors have placed him in a medically induced coma.
Blackwell did not enter a plea at his arraignment. He is due back in court Friday.
Moore, 25, a plainclothes officer, and his partner pulled up in an unmarked police car to a man who was adjusting his waistband suspiciously, police Commissioner William Bratton said.
The officers exchanged words before he turned suddenly and fired at least twice, striking Moore, Bratton said. Moore's partner, officer Erik Jansen, radioed for help.
"They did not have an opportunity to get out and return fire," Bratton said Saturday at a news conference at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The suspect in the 6:15 p.m. shooting fled to an alley and onto 104th Road, Bratton said. Blackwell was taken into custody about 90 minutes later, although no weapon was found.
Bratton said Blackwell has an extensive arrest history, including criminal possession of a weapon and robbery.
USA TODAY
2 NYPD officers killed in ambush-style shooting
Moore, who comes from a police family, joined the department in July 2010.
Speaking at the news conference, de Blasio said: "This was an unconscionable act of violence, not just against one police officer, but against the city of New York and against the values we hold dear.
"Our hearts are with his family, his loved ones — our hearts are with his extended family, the men and women of the NYPD."
Moore is the fifth NYPD officer to be shot since December.
Police work in a neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York on Saturday after an officer was shot.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Craig Ruttle, AP)
That month, New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot to death as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn.
The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, had posted anti-police messages on social media after the deaths of two unarmed black men, Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner of Staten Island in New York, during confrontations with white police officers.
Grand jury decisions not to indict the police officers involved in Brown's and Garner's cases sparked nationwide protests.
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