A citywide police dragnet was launched yesterday after two police officers were shot during a routine patrol stop in Brooklyn that turned into a street gun battle, police officials said. One officer was clinging to life yesterday.

The suspects fled the bloodshed in a stolen sport-utility vehicle, leaving investigators in hot pursuit.

“The suspects in this brazen shooting are still at large,” Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday.

Police officer Russel Timoshenko, 23, was shot twice in the face and was reported to be in grave condition at Kings County Hospital with two bullets lodged in the back of his head. Officer Herman Yan, 26, also was shot twice. His life was likely saved thanks to a bulletproof vest that blocked one bullet headed for his chest, Mr. Kelly said.

The shooting took place at about 2:30 a.m., blocks from Prospect Park in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens section of Brooklyn. A platoon of detectives worked on the investigation until about 3 p.m., when a fresh squad of police investigators from throughout the city relieved them, police said.

In a key finding, police obtained video footage of the shootout and the suspects from two security cameras. One camera captured the gunfight on the corner of Lefferts and Rogers avenues, and another caught the three suspects ducking into an alley after abandoning the stolen SUV blocks away on Kingston Avenue.

Investigators also found three guns, a 9-millimeter, a .45 caliber magnum, and a Tech-9, a fully automatic handgun, near where the vehicle was abandoned, police said. The guns are believed to have belonged to the suspects, police said.

Two .45 caliber bullet casings were found in the abandoned vehicle and the casings of two other shells were recovered at the scene, Mr. Kelly said.

Investigators said they were unable to positively determine if the bullets that struck the officers came from the confiscated weapons because two were lodged in Officer Timoshenko’s head and the others were deformed after striking Officer Yan in the arm and vest, making it impossible for ballistics experts to determine their source.

The shootout transpired after Officers Timoshenko and Yan, who were on routine night patrol, discovered that the license plate on a dark green BMW sport-utility vehicle driving east on Lefferts Avenue was registered to a Mitsubishi sport-utility vehicle belonging to an elderly woman in Long Island, police said.

The officers abruptly flashed their lights and pulled the vehicle over after it turned north on to Rogers Avenue, police said.

As both officers exited the patrol car and approached the SUV on it’s passenger side, gunshots erupted from out of the passenger side window, Mayor Bloomberg said at a press conference hours after the shootout. Witnesses said they heard between five and 10 shots.
Two bullets immediately struck Officer Timoshenko twice in the face, sending him to the ground, police said.

In the midst of the gunfire, Officer Yan was struck twice but was able to return fire in the direction of the vehicle and radio for backup, Mr. Kelly said.

The suspects fled the scene and drove several blocks east before turning the vehicle the wrong way down Kingston Avenue and abandoning the vehicle when they reached the corner of Lefferts Avenue, Mr. Kelly said.

The vehicle had belonged to the owner of a car dealership, Five Points Mitsubishi, and was stolen from a lot on site, police said. The suspects snatched the license plate from an adjacent vehicle during the theft and placed it on the BMW, police sources said.

Nassau County police declined to comment on the case.

The suspects were caught on security footage racing into a driveway at 591 Lefferts Ave., police sources said. Police found the three weapons wrapped in a T-shirt that had been discarded inside a garage behind the home, police sources said.

In what seemed like moments after the incident, several neighborhood residents who were awoken by the gunfire said the corner of Lefferts and Rogers avenues became lit up by a blaze of police lights.

One witness, who in fear of the suspects asked not to be identified, said he peeked out of his window on Rogers Avenue and saw Officer Yan standing over a prostrate Officer Timoshenko.

“One cop was on the ground, his face was covered with blood,” the witness said. “The other guy was shaking and screaming and there was blood coming out of his arm.

The officers were rushed to Kings County Hospital in the back of a police car, police sources said.

At 7 a.m., Messrs. Bloomberg and Kelly held a press conference at the hospital.

“All things considered, he was in good spirits,” Mr. Bloomberg said of Officer Yan. “He should make a full recovery.”

“Tragically, the same can’t be said about Officer Timoshenko.” Mr. Bloomberg continued.

Shortly after the shooting, more than 30 of Officer Timoshenko’s family and friends gathered at the hospital.

A fellow officer at the 71st Precinct who is a close friend of Officer Timoshenko’s, Alex Alvarez, 29, heard the tragic news over the police radio while on the same shift.

“You always have in the back of your mind something can happen,” he said. “He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever met.”

Officer Alvarez rushed to the hospital at 4 a.m. and stayed by his friend’s side until the evening hours.

In Officer Timoshenko’s neighborhood on Staten Island, which lies on the border of the Oakwood and Bay Terrace sections of the borough, neighbors and friends held out hope for the fallen hero.

“If there are any miracles out there, I hope they all go to him,” a neighbor who is the mother of two of Officer Timoshenko’s best friends, Victoria Gentile, said.

Officer Timoshenko and his parents immigrated to America from what is now the country of Belarus in 1993, police said.