NEW YORK — A New York City plainclothes police officer managed to fire his service weapon even as he was being dragged by a driver in a stolen car for more than two city blocks, striking one of the occupants in the vehicle, police said Sunday.

Officer Dalsh Veve was hospitalized in critical condition after the dragging, which took place around midnight Saturday in Brooklyn.

New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said Veve and other officers had responded to the scene after getting calls of shots fired, which were determined to be fireworks.

O’Neill said Veve, 35, was speaking to the occupants of a Honda parked in front of a fire hydrant when other officers saw him being dragged down the street by the car. He fell to the street a couple of blocks away, and the car crashed a short distance away and was abandoned by the people inside.

In Laredo, Texas, police said three police officers were wounded by gunfire Saturday during a shootout with a murder suspect at a convenience store, and two underwent surgery.

Officials said the officers who had surgery, Agapito Perez and Arturo Vela, are expected to recover.

Officer Mario Casares, 49, was in serious but stable condition at another San Antonio hospital.

Police had located Antonio Geraldo Rodriguez at a convenience store after the fatal shooting of his girlfriend. Rodriguez opened fire when police approached and officers returned fire.

Police say Rodriguez, who was fatally shot, had previously been convicted of murder in a Houston case and served prison time.