NEW YORK, Jan 4: New York City's mayor criticised the top US gun lobbying group after three of the city's police officers were shot in separate incidents that left one suspect dead and four under arrest.

The shootings occurred in a one-hour span Thursday night.

“In recent weeks, we've heard some people say that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. But sometimes the good guys get shot — and sometimes, they are killed,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Thursday.

Bloomberg is very outspoken on gun violence and has been critical of the National Rifle Association’s suggestion last month that the solution to school shootings like the recent one in Newtown, Connecticut, should be addressed by putting an armed police officer in every school in the country.

The Newtown shooting killed 20 children, ages 6 and 7, along with six adults at the school.—AP