The source being the police representative or the NYT? Are you questioning the motive for the shooting or that it happened?
Local news (WABC CH 7) reports 2 plainsclothes officers on anti crime detail approached 2 men meeting desecription
of robbery suspects insde Chinese restaurent when
opened fire on officers
One in Critical condition - wounded in arm and back
Second is serious with wounds in arm and chest
The presumed motive.
“Chief Royster said that the officers were not targeted by the gunman as occurred in the Dec. 20 fatal shooting of two officers in their patrol car in Brooklyn but instead appeared to have been investigating a robbery when the shooting began.”
Who can say how the current atmosphere of racial animosity may have affected a decision by the gunmen to shoot at the cops?