One Suspected Burglar Shot Dead, Another Sought In 78th Street Home Invasion [Updated]

One apparent burglar was shot dead and another is still being sought for an armed home invasion that was intercepted by police on 78th Street yesterday evening.

Officers from the 62nd Precinct responded to a 911 call of a burglary in progress at 2271 78th Street at about 6:30pm, according to NYPD Chief James O’Neill.

Upon arriving at the building, responding officers saw a man suspect fleeing upstairs toward the third floor. They alerted back-up units, that the male was fleeing toward the rear of the building. The suspect was spotted exiting a window and descending a fire escape into the back yard, according to police.

After scaling a fence onto Stillwell Avenue, the suspect came face-to-face with a uniformed sergeant and pointed his revolved at him, according to police. The sergeant and another uniformed member of the service discharged their service weapons and the suspect was struck twice. He was transported to Coney Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The the identity of the 39-year-old is being withheld pending family notification.

Further investigation, and interviews with several residents who were present in the apartment during the armed home invasion, reveals that a second subject had fled just prior to the arrival of police, according to the NYPD. The suspect is described as a black male, in his 30s, heavy-set, possibly wearing a yellow construction-type hat.

A revolver has been recovered at the shooting scene and is pending processing by crime scene investigators, say cops. None of the victims of the apartment, which included seven adults and an infant, were injured. Members of the family were tied up during the incident, according to some news reports.

“It was close. It was as the suspect came over the wall the sergeant was right there so he actually had to push his arm away. It was close,” O’Neill told ABC7.

Update [12pm]: The deceased has been identified as 39-year-old Orville Edwards, of Brooklyn.