Second NYPD officer killed by friendly fire this year, compounding tragedy-filled 2019
A second New York City police officer has been killed by friendly fire in less than eight months, adding to the anguish of a department beset by several deaths this year.
Officer Brian Mulkeen was fatally shot while grappling with an armed assailant after chasing and shooting at him in the early hours Sunday morning in the Bronx.
It wasn’t clear initially whether Mulkeen was hit by bullets from his own gun or the suspect’s, but Police commissioner James O’Neill said Monday the shots came from other officers on the call. Mulkeen, 33, was struck twice, not three times as police initially indicated.
The suspect, Antonio Williams, 27, was also killed in a chaotic confrontation that involved six officers firing 15 shots in about 10 seconds, police officials said.
“This is an absolute tragedy,” O’Neill said. “Make no mistake, we lost the life of a courageous public servant solely due to a violent criminal who put the lives of the police and all the people we serve in jeopardy.”
The death of Mulkeen, who had been on the force for close to seven years and was investigating gang activity, comes several months after Detective Brian Simonsen was fatally hit by crossfire from fellow officers while responding to a robbery in February.
The New York Police Department has also been rocked by a rash of suicides among its members this year. The total of nine so far, seven of them since June, is about twice the average of four or five officer suicides over recent years.
Investigators are still trying to ascertain the details of what led to the encounter with Williams, who was on probation after a drug arrest last year. State prison records indicate he previously served 3½ years for burglary.
Mulkeen was on patrol with a plainclothes anti-crime unit when he and his partners encountered Williams around 12:30 a.m. Sunday near a public housing complex, police said. After Williams ran away, Mulkeen chased him down and they began to wrestle.
O’Neill said that in body camera footage Mulkeen is heard saying, “He’s reaching for it! He’s reaching for it!’’
A crisis: Police officer kills himself, the 9th NYPD death by suicide this year
Police said Williams’ loaded .32-caliber revolver was recovered at the scene. It had not been fired.
Mulkeen graduated from Fordham University’s business school and worked as a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch from 2007-2009, but left the company to become a policeman and joined the NYPD in January 2013.
Police officers and firefighters lined up along the New York State Thruway on Monday as a caravan of police vehicles transported Mulkeen’s body to a funeral home in his hometown of Monroe, a suburb northwest of the city. His funeral is scheduled for Friday.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Friendly fire' kills second New York police officer, Brian Mulkeen
