Shooting Fugitive Arrested Near Gowanus Whole Foods, Police Say

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — The fugitive wanted for shooting at police in an upstate hospital then fleeing to Brooklyn where he allegedly robbed a man at gunpoint was arrested in Gowanus Monday, the NYPD said.

The "armed and dangerous" Joshua Stuart, 42, was arrested near a Whole Foods supermarket on Third Avenue and Third Street in Gowanus hours after he allegedly swiped a 29-year-old man's wallet at gunpoint in a Bay Ridge smoke shop, a police spokesman said.

Stuart was on the run from authorities after he opened fire in Ellenville Regional Hospital near Poughkeepsie early Friday morning. He escaped the hospital in a white Dodge Ram 1500, but the Department of Environmental Protection Police caught up with him at Vernooy Kill State Forest, officials said.

He fired up to five rounds at the officers before he darted into the woods. The NYPD said Stuart was spotted in the Sunset Park and Flatbush neighborhoods of Brooklyn Sunday.

Stuart is in custody at the 78th Precinct. Charges against him are pending, a police spokesman said.

Photo courtesy of NYPD