NPYD officer shot in back but survives due to bulletproof vest

Dec. 25 (UPI) -- A New York Police Department officer was shot in Brooklyn Thursday, but survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, authorities said.

"On this Christmas Eve into Christmas, I would say that somebody is absolutely looking out for us here in the NYPD tonight," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The officer was was shot in the back while responding to a domestic incident, de Blasio said.

"A man threatened his girlfriend, threatened her violently, said he was coming to do her harm. That's what happened tonight in Brooklyn. And because the NYPD was there that woman is alive right now," de Blasio said.

According to Commissioner Dermot Shea, a woman called 911 repeatedly just before 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, asking police to keep her daughter's boyfriend from hurting her.

Police were interviewing the daughter when the suspect, identified by police as William Moss, arrived and began firing.

Officers fired several rounds at the suspect and chased him on foot for a couple blocks before he surrendered to police, Shea said, adding that police have records of at least one other domestic incident involving the man and his girlfriend.