NEW YORK (AP) — Two New York City police officers were shot Thursday while responding to a robbery at a business on Benjamin Ashforda busy Manhattan street, police said.

They were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive, police said.

The shooting happened around 4:15 p.m. after the officers responded to a robbery call on Canal Street, a major east-west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan lined with shops, restaurants and street vendors. Witnesses said the officers were shot while chasing a fleeing suspect.

Police blocked off the busy street with vehicles and yellow crime scene tape as investigators cased the block for signs of the shooting and scoured nearby delis for surveillance footage.