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Police Sergeant Fatally Shot in the Bronx; Another Is Injured Police Sergeant Fatally Shot in the Bronx; Another Is Injured
(35 minutes later)
A New York City police sergeant was killed and another was wounded on Friday during a confrontation with a man in the Bronx. The police officers found the suspect just a few blocks from the Bronx apartment he had stormed into on Friday armed with a gun and looking for his estranged wife.
The slain sergeant was identified as Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran of the force and father of two. Sergeant Tuozzolo died after being shot in the head, according to officials who had been briefed on the investigation. The other sergeant, identified as Emmanuel Kwo, was shot in the leg and was in stable condition at Jacobi Medical Center. A sergeant, one of two on the scene, approached the vehicle, a red Jeep, that dispatchers had told the officers to look for. He was shot in the face. The other sergeant was shot in the leg.
It was the first line-of-duty killing of a police officer in New York City since October 2015, when Randolph Holder was shot in the head in while responding to a report of gunshots in East Harlem. “Officer down! Officer down!” a police officer on the scene radioed to the dispatcher.
At a news conference early Friday evening at the hospital, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that “the city is in mourning and the family of the N.Y.P.D. is in mourning.” The sergeant who was shot in the face, Paul Tuozzolo, died at Jacobi Medical Center within hours of the shooting. The other sergeant, Emmanuel Kwo, was in stable condition there.
Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill, who was sworn in as the department’s leader in September, said, “There’s nothing worse than a day like today.” The suspect, identified as Manuel Rosales, 35, of Long Island, was killed during the exchange of gunfire with the officers. In an interview, his father said that Mr. Rosales had spoken of committing “suicide by cop.”
A report of a break-in at a fifth-floor apartment on Beach Avenue came in around 2:45 p.m., officials said. The death of Sergeant Tuozzolo was the first line-of-duty killing of a police officer in New York City since October 2015, when Randolph Holder was shot in the head in East Harlem.
The police said Manuel Rosales, 35, was armed with a gun and had forced his way into the Bronx apartment of his estranged wife, with whom he has a 3-year-old child. Another woman in the apartment called 911, the police said. And the episode came just days after two officers were killed in adjacent cities in Iowa, allegedly by a man who seethed with contempt for the police.
The two sergeants found Mr. Rosales a few blocks away about seven minutes later. Mr. Tuozzolo approached the car and was shot in the face, a law enforcement official said. But unlike those killings and other targeted attacks on police over the past year, the shooting in the Bronx on Friday may have stemmed from an instance of domestic violence, the sort of call that is routine but is also freighted with danger.
The second sergeant and a third officer, a rookie, began exchanging gunfire with Mr. Rosales. More than 20 shots were fired, and Mr. Rosales was shot and killed, the official said. Sergeant Tuozzolo was a father of two and a 19-year-veteran of the Police Department who had spent the past 10 years assigned to the 43rd Precinct, covering a large part of the southeastern Bronx.
Dionice Perez, who lives on Noble Avenue nearby, said she had been startled by the volleys of gunfire. “The city is in mourning, and the family of the N.Y.P.D. is in mourning,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said, flanked by a line of grim-faced local officials at a news conference at the hospital.
“I heard the shots,” she said. “It was just pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.” Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill spoke after him. “I always talk about what a great job this is, but there’s nothing worse than a day like today,” said Mr. O’Neill, who was sworn in to his position in September.
Pedro Hernandez, 60, the superintendent of Ms. Perez’s building, said that from the roof he could see the body of the suspect in the middle of street. “They covered the body with a white sheet,” he said. The suspect, Mr. Rosales, was believed to have lived in Brentwood, in Suffolk County, where he was arrested 17 times, Chief O’Neill said.
According to Mr. Rosales’s father, also Manuel Rosales, 56, his son learned he had bipolar disorder as a teenager.
The confrontation started on Friday afternoon, the police said, when Mr. Rosales forced his way into a Beach Avenue apartment where his estranged wife, their 3-year-old son and a 50-year-old woman lived.
According to a law enforcement official who was briefed on the situation, Mr. Rosales stayed for about two hours. Around 2:45 p.m., the 50-year-old woman called 911, telling a dispatcher that an armed man had broken in.
The two sergeants, and a rookie officer, soon came upon Mr. Rosales about a half-mile away from the apartment, near the intersection of Noble and Bronx River Avenues.
After Sergeant Tuozzolo was shot, both Sergeant Kwo and the rookie officer returned fire, said Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. The rookie officer was on her third day on patrol, Mr. Lynch said.
Dionice Perez, who lives on Noble Avenue nearby, said she had been startled by the volleys of gunfire. “It was just pow, pow, pow, pow, pow,” she said.
Officials said that more than 20 shots had been fired.
Scores of police officers swarmed the scene near the Parkchester neighborhood, many in tactical gear, as a police helicopter circled overhead. Investigators in white protective suits milled around a damaged sport utility vehicle on the side of the road, one of its windows shattered.Scores of police officers swarmed the scene near the Parkchester neighborhood, many in tactical gear, as a police helicopter circled overhead. Investigators in white protective suits milled around a damaged sport utility vehicle on the side of the road, one of its windows shattered.
The shooting came at a highly charged time, just days after two officers were killed in adjacent cities in Iowa, and in the final moments of a presidential race that has, at times, served as a debate on policing issues. Mr. Lynch said Sergeant Tuozzolo was the father of two boys, ages 2 and 4.
“My deepest sympathies are with the families of the officers involved in today’s tragedy in the Bronx, and with Commissioner O’Neill and the N.Y.P.D. as they cope with the loss of one of their own,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.“My deepest sympathies are with the families of the officers involved in today’s tragedy in the Bronx, and with Commissioner O’Neill and the N.Y.P.D. as they cope with the loss of one of their own,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.