Two transit officers and one off-duty member of the city's police force are recovering in the hospital after two separate shootings Thursday night in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Police said plainclothes transit officers Michael Levay and Lukasz Kozicki were shot by a man they were questioning inside an N subway car as it was pulling into the Fort Hamilton Parkway 62nd Street station.

Officials say the officers saw the man moving between subway cars in violation of transit regulations at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday and questioned him.

Police Commissioner Kelly said the suspect pretended to reach for his wallet when questioned, but instead drew a handgun, shooting Kozicki three times in his upper thighs and groin.

Police said Officer Levay was hit in the back, but was able to return fire, killing the assailant.

Both officers were wearing bulletproof vests. They are said to be in stable condition at Lutheran Hospital.

A passenger suffered a bullet graze to the leg, according to Kelly.

Other passengers ran onto the platform when the gunfire erupted.

Meanwhile, about an hour earlier, an off-duty officer was shot during an attempted armed robbery at his family's car dealership.

Police say two men walked into the dealership in Olinville and said they were interested in buying a car.

One of the men pulled a gun.

Officer Juan Pichardo tried to stop the robbery and was shot in the leg.

Despite his injury, Pichardo and an employee were able to hold down the gunman.

Three other men were caught a short time later.

"In recent weeks we've heard some people say that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a gun, but sometimes the good guys get shot, and sometimes they are killed. Tonight thank God, three good guys, three NYPD cops who acted heroicly, are going to make it," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the gun in the Bronx shooting had been reported stolen in North Carolina last month.

The gun used in the subway incident was purchased in Pennsylvania.