NYPD Officer Dies After Being Shot In Face

Officer Peter Figoski responded to a "burglary in progress" at 25 Pine Street in East New York and was confronted by career criminal Lamont Pride, 27, cops said. Pride and his cohort initially hid from the first responding officers and were attempting to make their escape when Figoski and his partner surprised the thugs, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement this morning. Without hesitation, Pride allegedly shot Figoski once in the face and took off on foot. Meanwhile, Figoski's partner, Glenn Estrada, was tussling with Pride's unidentified cohort nearby. Estrada broke away and chased after Pride, slapping the cuffs on him several blocks away on Chestnut Street and Fulton Street, police said.

Figoski was taken to Jamaica Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The incident began at about 2:15 a.m. when the two thugs wearing ski masks pounced on the door to a basement apartment occupied by a 25-year-old tenant. When the occupant went to investigate, the assailants said they were cops, demanded cash and jewelry and knocked the tenant down with a blow to the head with a firearm. The suspects swiped stole an inexpensive watch and $770 in cash.

Police recovered a silver 9mm Ruger semi-automatic from under a parked car near the area where Pride was taken into custody.

The Accomplice is still at large.