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NYPD: Female Suspect Injured In Police-Involved Shooting On Staten Island

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Crime scene investigators and countless detectives took over Highland Avenue off Howard Avenue on Staten Island on Sunday after police opened fire on a woman armed with a gun.

"For us, it's surprising because it's a very quiet neighborhood," resident Frances Melendez told CBS2's Hazel Sanchez.

Police said 41-year-old Lori Gjenashaj first began her shooting rampage outside her mother-in-law's home on Nugent Avenue, firing her weapon, which was believed to be a starter's pistol, in the air outside the home and then driving away in a black GMC SUV.

Staten Island gun
The firearm police recovered at the scene of an officer-involved shooting on March 25, 2018, on Staten Island. (Photo: NYPD)

Detectives said the Staten Island woman, angry at her former best friend, then showed up at the friend's red brick home at 32 Sunnyside Terrace and smashed through the front door with a brick. Police believe the suspect's rage was carried over from Saturday, when she was busted for allegedly assaulting her former friend's new best friend after a PTA meeting. CBS2's Sanchez reported.

Police said Gjenashaj threatened her friend's teenage son. Using his phone, police said she called her former friend and said: "I'm going to kill your son, if you don't come here."

The son ran to a neighbor's house and called 911.

"It was quite a commotion around here. You could hear the shots being fired at her when she went up the block," neighbor Francis Peter Dillon said. "I'm still worried for them. You don't know what's gonna happen yet."

Police said Gjenashaj left her friend's house, firing her weapon again, and then got back in her SUV and drove off. Responding police tracked her down on Highland Avenue with a gun in her hand.

"There were a couple words asking her to drop the firearm and come out of the vehicle, which we believe that she did not do," NYPD Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said.

That's when police fired five rounds, hitting the woman once in her shoulder. She did not fire her weapon, police said.

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Gjenashaj was in police custody and under arrest at Richmond University Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition, Harrison said.

The incident remains under investigation.

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