Last updated: 3:14 am
May 17, 2009
Posted: 2:04 am
May 17, 2009

A brazen thief snatched a laptop from a US marshal in a Bronx park yesterday and dodged a bullet when the marshal shot at him -- only to be caught red-handed by the NYPD, law-enforcement sources said.

The marshal, who is assigned to Puerto Rico, was in a Jeep at a parking lot next to Van Cortlandt Park when a man approached just before 9 a.m. and grabbed the computer through an open window.

The marshal, whose name was not released, jumped out and fired a round at the thief as he darted off, a police source said.

Police did not charge the marshal, who admitted to firing the gun.

Christian Cepeda, 30, of Yonkers, was allegedly carrying the computer when he was captured not far from the scene. He was charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property.

But things got even worse for Cepeda when his cellphone rang while he was being questioned and the caller told the cops that the phone, too, had been stolen -- during a meeting arranged over Craigslist.