(AP) ? A city police officer who wascritically wounded in a shootout with two armed robbery suspectslast week died Tuesday, one day before his 38th birthday and thesame day police engaged in another gun battle nearby.

Detective Marc A. DiNardo, a 10-year veteran who had been onlife support, was pronounced dead around 9:35 a.m. after doctorsharvested his organs for transplant.

The 37-year-old was hit by a shotgun blast July 16as his SWAT team stormed the apartment where the suspects had takencover. DiNardo had no signs of life when he arrived at Jersey CityMedical Center that day and had to be revived several times beforebeing stabilized in critical condition.

"This is such a great loss to us," Mayor Jerramiah Healy said."It takes a special person to run toward danger when your mostbasic human instinct is to avoid it. Marc exemplified that specialcharacter."

Four other officers were shot in the encounter and three moresuffered minor injuries.

SWAT team member Michael Camacho was upgraded from critical toserious condition Sunday with two gunshot wounds in his throat. The25-year-old was still hospitalized Tuesday morning when a car chaseroared through the street outside the hospital. The 3 a.m. chaseand gun battle ended one block from a precinct decorated withpurple and black bunting for DiNardo.

Authorities said a trio of teenage gunmen rammed four policecruisers and opened fire on officers twice Tuesday morning during achase that began after they allegedly robbed a pedestrian atgunpoint. No one was hit, but seven officers suffered minorinjuries, boosting the toll the past week to 15 injured and onedead, according to Deputy Police Chief Peter Nalbach.

The 33-year police veteran said he can't remember a week when somany Jersey City officers have been hurt in the line of duty.

"I hope this is just an anomaly and it passes quickly,"Nalbach said of the spate of injuries. "Fifteen is a lot for us."

One or two injuries a week is about normal for the Jersey Cityforce, whose 893 officers safeguard a city of 242,000 across theHudson River from lower Manhattan. Nalbach blamed the surge on theavailability of illegal firearms.

Tuesday's teenage suspects - ages 16, 18 and 19 - were armedwith .45-caliber and .22-caliber automatic pistols. The triggermanon July 16, Hassan Shakur, was armed with a stolen 12-gaugetactical shotgun of the kind used by police.

DiNardo and Camacho were heading inside Shakur's apartmentbehind a shield when he opened fire from five feet away as the doorwas swinging open. Neither officer got off a shot.

DiNardo leaves behind his wife, Mary, and their three children,Gwendolyn, 4, Marc Anthony, 3, and Ella, 1. He is the 38th JerseyCity police officer to die in the line of duty since the departmentwas established in 1829.

"He will be greatly missed. He had a personality you couldnever forget, and when he walked into a room we all loved him,"Officer Melissa Bartholomew said of DiNardo, a friend and fellowpolice academy classmate.

Shakur and his wife, Amanda Anderson, 22, were dead at thescene. An autopsy found 19 slugs in the gunman's body. Anderson,who was not wielding a firearm, died from a gunshot wound to thebase of the skull and was also hit in the hand.

Shakur and Anderson were wanted in a June 18 armed robbery inJersey City, in which a man was shot in the stomach with a shotgun.They also were suspected of a similar robbery in South Carolina.

Shakur was buried Monday. Beforehand, his sister apologized forher brother's actions.

"I want to apologize to the state of New Jersey for the terrorthat my brother brought upon your city," said Monique Hosendove,who traveled from Hampton, S.C., for her brother's funeral. "I amso sorry to the families of all the officers."