A New York City police officer was shot and wounded in Brooklyn after responding to a radio call of shots being fired in Bushwick Tuesday night. The alleged gunman was arrested late Tuesday night.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Officer Kevin Brennan was shot at the Bushwick House, which is a housing project. The alleged gunman, who officials named as Louis “Baby” Ortiz, is also wanted in connection with a homicide earlier this month, Bloomberg said.

Speaking at a news conference at Bellevue Hospital, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Brennan was struck by a bullet in the base of his skull by a suspect running away from responding NYPD officers.

Kelly said the officer responded to shots fired near 140 Moore St. He said that three individuals were running from that building. One of the individuals, who police recognized from past encounters, was followed into 370 Bushwick Avee.

Kelly said that during that chase, Brennan was shot once and that he returned fire. It is unclear if the suspect was struck.

Kelly said officer Brennan was “one lucky young man.” He is expected to survive, but is currently in critical, but stable condition.

(CLICK ON IMAGE – TAKEN WHEN SUSPECT WAS ARRESTED)

The following are Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s remarks as delivered at Bellevue Hospital on Tuesday night:

“Good evening. I’m joined by Commissioner Kelly, Chief of Brooklyn North Gerald Nelson, Dr. Eli Kleinman, the NYPD’s Chief Medical Officer, Chief of Patrol James Hall, and Pat Lynch from the PBA.

“We’re here tonight at Bellevue Hospital because one of our City’s Finest, Officer Kevin Brennan, was shot tonight in the head in the Bushwick Houses public housing development in Brooklyn when he and his partners responded to a report of shots fired. The doctors here at Bellevue successfully removed the bullet from the right base of Officer Brennan’s skull. He is in critical but stable condition. Commissioner Kelly and I have met with him a short while ago, and with his parents and wife.

“The 29-year-old Officer Brennan has been a member of the NYPD since July of 2005, winning many commendations and awards for his service. Just six weeks ago, he and his wife Janet welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Maeve into the world. And thankfully tonight I think there’s no reason to think her daddy won’t be there to see her crawl for the first time – and in good time, dance at her wedding.

“Commissioner Kelly will fill you in on the details of what transpired and how our search for the suspect that we think committed the crime, the shooting, is going. But tonight, we have someone who’s dedicated his life to protecting all of us, who has had a much too close brush with death tonight because of what appears to be an illegal gun.

“I have said this many times before – and I wish I never had a reason to stand in a hospital and say it again – but since Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were killed in 1968, there have been more than 400,000 people killed with illegal guns here in America, more than the number of Americans that were killed in World War II.

“The news tonight is thankfully not tragic. But until our nation gets serious about taking guns off our streets, we can only hope that the news is as good the next time.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)