Officer shot dead by another officer in NYC suburb, too bizarre

[thundrr1]

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...rld&id=8011028

MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. (AP) - March 13, 2011 (WPVI) -- A police officer was fatally shot by another officer after a confrontation with a knife-wielding man inside a home in a New York City suburb, authorities said Sunday. The suspect also was killed.

Police responded to a 911 call at around 8:20 p.m. Saturday in Massapequa Park, nearly 40 miles east of Manhattan. Theresa Kelly told Newsday she was backing out of her driveway when the suspect, wearing dark clothing and a hockey mask, jumped on the hood of her car.

"He got a good laugh out of scaring me," said the 71-year-old Kelly. "I thought he wanted to get into my car, so I called 911."

When officers arrived, they found 21-year-old Anthony Digeronimo with knives strapped to his body and in his hands, said Detective Lt. Kevin Smith of the Nassau County police.

The officers followed as Digeronimo ran into the house nearby where he lived with his parents, Smith said.

Once inside the house, the suspect barricaded himself inside a bedroom, Smith said. The officers radioed for backup, but before additional officers arrived, Digeronimo emerged and charged the officers with a knife, Smith said.

The officers drew their weapons and shot the knife-wielding man, killing him, he said.

Several minutes later, additional officers arrived including Bureau of Special Operations officers in plainclothes and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officers who normally patrol the Long Island Rail Road.

For reasons that are unclear, an MTA officer fired one shot at Geoffrey Breitkopf, one of the special operations officers, Smith said.

Breitkopf, a 12-year veteran, was pronounced dead Saturday night at Nassau University Medical Center.

It was the second line-of-duty death of a Nassau County officer this year.

Highway patrolman Michael Califano was killed Feb. 5 when a truck slammed into his police cruiser in Old Westbury, N.Y.

The MTA officer's name was not released. The shooting is under investigation

Just too bazaar........ Something is missing at this point.

[Emptymag]

(snip)

Just too bazaar........ Something is missing at this point.

Restraint?

Clear identification of the target?

Communication?

Training?



All of the above, perhaps?

And now, someone's son...

[AxiTech]

Yeah, something missing! Probably something like the shooter is a hot-head, trigger-happy thug, or the shooter has been upset lately over the fact that the dead cop was seeing the shooter's wife on the side. There is always a seamy side to the story. It may be something as simple as mis-communication or mistaken identity, but my money is on something a bit more sinister.

All that having been said, I hope neither left behind a wife and kids who will grieve forever over this. It's bad enough to leave parents and siblings, but wives and kids is especially difficult.

[MartinBrody]

Rest in peace.

What an awful situation, I am hoping everyone dealing with this right now gets through it as well as they can.

Sounds like this must have been a chaotic scene.

[HiredGoon]

Found this story with more details:

MTA Cop Mistakenly Kills Nassau Officer in Massapequa Park
By Timothy Bolger on March 13th, 2011


Officer Geoffrey Breitkopf was killed in an accidental shooting Saturday night.

An MTA police officer accidentally shot and killed a Nassau County police officer responding to a Massapequa Park home where officers had gunned down a self-professed Satan worshipper who lunged at them with a pair of hunting knives on Saturday night, authorities said.

Two Seventh Precinct officers fired a total of seven shots at Anthony DiGeronimo inside the 4th Avenue home where the 21-year-old lived with his parents at 8:13 p.m. About 10 minutes later, Geoffrey Breitkopf of the elite Bureau of Special Operations (BSO), was walking up to the house when the MTA officer shot him in an apparent moment of confusion.

Breitkopf died about an hour later at Nassau University Medical Center with his family by his side. DiGeronimo died at the scene.

“The circumstances surrounding what happened at that particular point in time are under review,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said at a news conference Sunday.

The chaos unfolded when DiGeronimo, donning a mask covering part of his face, a black leather jacket studded with chains and what Mulvey described as “Satanic-like garb,” allegedly brandished a knife at his neighbor, 71-year-old Theresa Kelly, who lives two blocks away on Front Street.

Kelly screamed. She said DiGeronimo, who she did not know, laughed. She called 911 to report the incident and followed him down the block.

The first officers on the scene confronted the DiGeronimo, who Mulvey said had several large knives strapped to him, before he ran into his parent’s home and barricaded himself in his bedroom. The officers followed DiGeronimo in the house, unsure if it was his, and ordered his mother and father outside, Mulvey said.

“All I heard them say was ‘put down the knife, put down knife’ and all hell broke loose,” Kelly told the Press.

“Don’t shoot my son, don’t shoot my son, you don’t understand,” Kelly said she overheard the suspect’s father say while police were in the house.

Mulvey said DiGeronimo charged at the officers with one knife in each hand and one raised over his head when officers opened fire–one firing three shots, the other four.

It was not immediate clear how many shots hit DiGeronimo. A police spokesman described the knives, each with 8-inch blades, as “Rambo-style.”

MTA police officers who were handling a report of a broken elevator at the nearby Long Island Rail Road station, responded to the scene and were outside the home at the time of the shooting. Eight to 12 minutes later, Officer Breitkopf was walking up to the house in plainclothes with a rifle at his side when the MTA officer shot him in the right side, Mulvey said.

The bullet went through his chest and lodged in his left arm. He was taken to NUMC in East Meadow where he died.

Mulvey said the MTA officer had apparently misconstrued a threat when Breitkopf approached, emphasizing that the actual cause of the shooting is under investigation.

The MTA officer, whose name was not released, is out on sick leave. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority issued a statement offering condolences.

Breitkopf, a 12-year veteran of the police force, had been a highly decorated member of the BSO unit for seven years. The unit often conducts undercover patrols and backs up uniformed patrol officers.

“When cops need help on the street, this is who they call,” said James Carver, president of the Police Benevolent Association. He described Breitkopf as a “cop’s cop.”

He was an avid motorcyclist, volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Selden, had become a trainer for BSO and even had the unit’s ensignia tatooed on his chest. He is survived by his wife, Paula and two children; Connor and Owen, ages 6 and 3.

County Executive Ed Mangano ordered flags at county building be flown at half staff and rescheduled the state of county address, which had been set for Monday.

Police said they found more than a dozen knives in DiGeronimo’s collection. He had no prior arrests but was once interviewed by police after he was found hanging out near a known drug-dealing location, police said.

In on online profile that he posted on various websites, DiGeronimo, who described himself as, among other things, an anarchist, wrote: “I rarely go outside anymore mostly because I hate interacting with society.”


Anthony DiGeronimo in a photo he posted online.

[AxiTech]

Found this story with more details:

Ok, after reading that (thank you , by the way) my first thoughts are, "Was the dead officer wearing his balclava when shot?" There was a report, if I read it correctly, of a bad guy wearing a mask. I'd bet that this cop got mistaken for the bad guy. Multiple agencies, multiple radio freqs= multiple chances for disaster. To wear a mask into that situation is to invite disaster!

I really have a problem with LEO's wearing any kind of face covering at all. Why do they need to hide their identity? There is no legitimate reason at all. NONE!! There is also no good reason for them to be wearing camouflage or military type uniforms. If they want to look like soldiers, let them resign and go be soldiers. Most couldn't handle the rigors of being professional all the time and of being respectful all the time. Nor could most of them handle the workload.

[CenterTree]

An MTA police officer accidentally shot and killed a Nassau County police officer responding to a Massapequa Park home where officers had gunned down a self-professed Satan worshipper who lunged at them with a pair of hunting knives on Saturday night, authorities said.

Two Seventh Precinct officers fired a total of seven shots at Anthony DiGeronimo inside the 4th Avenue home where the 21-year-old lived with his parents at 8:13 p.m. About 10 minutes later, Geoffrey Breitkopf of the elite Bureau of Special Operations (BSO), was walking up to the house when the MTA officer shot him in an apparent moment of confusion.

Breitkopf died about an hour later at Nassau University Medical Center with his family by his side. DiGeronimo died at the scene.

“The circumstances surrounding what happened at that particular point in time are under review,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said at a news conference Sunday.

The chaos unfolded when DiGeronimo, donning a mask covering part of his face, a black leather jacket studded with chains and what Mulvey described as “Satanic-like garb,” allegedly brandished a knife at his neighbor, 71-year-old Theresa Kelly, who lives two blocks away on Front Street.

First of all, what difference should it make in who he worshiped? I know, I know, but, seriously, would the article even have this sentence if the guy was a "good Christian" or an Atheist?

"Officers gunned down a self-professed God lover" or

"Officers gunned down a self professed um, uh, NOTHING worshiper"

AND, what the heck is "Satan-like garb"???? GEEZ!




PLUS, apparently he had "Rambo style" knives too!!



I just always get annoyed at the way some people SENSATIONALIZE stuff.

[General Geoff]

Damn shame the satan worshipper didn't get into acting:



With a visage like that, he could be the next Vincent Price...

[Steve in PA]

Ok, after reading that (thank you , by the way) my first thoughts are, "Was the dead officer wearing his balclava when shot?" There was a report, if I read it correctly, of a bad guy wearing a mask. I'd bet that this cop got mistaken for the bad guy. Multiple agencies, multiple radio freqs= multiple chances for disaster. To wear a mask into that situation is to invite disaster!

I really have a problem with LEO's wearing any kind of face covering at all. Why do they need to hide their identity? There is no legitimate reason at all. NONE!! There is also no good reason for them to be wearing camouflage or military type uniforms. If they want to look like soldiers, let them resign and go be soldiers. Most couldn't handle the rigors of being professional all the time and of being respectful all the time. Nor could most of them handle the workload.

1) So what if he was wearing a balclava? That gives someone the okay to shoot???

2) If officers do wear them, they wear them as protection from flashbangs, etc. And to avoid identification due to being; (a) a SWAT/SERT/ERT officer or (b) they may also work undercover.

3) Give it a rest with your camo or BDU crap. What do you want them to do, wear their Class A uniform? There is nothing wrong with tac officers wearing BDU's. Exactly what is a "military type uniform"?

4) What do you know about being "professional" or being able to handle the "work load" of someone in the military? Were you in the miliary? I know I was and I've seen first hand how "professional" members of the military can be and as far as work load, what work load? You do realize that most police officers have some type of military background.

5) If you think you could do a better job as a LEO, then do it instead of being some keyboard commando.

[GunLawyer001]

I'm not a cop. I've never attended any police SWAT training, or any training.

But from all the shows I see on TV, all the live fire exercises, it appears that cops are trained for a stimulus-response of "GUN!!" - BANG!

They get into the room-clearing mindset, and they see a man with a gun who isn't one of them, and they just blaze away. In this case, from the story being told, it's likely that the cop didn't recognize the other cop, saw the gun, and BANG!

No appraisal, no warning, no actual immediate threat, just "he has a gun and he's not one of us."

Hardly Constitutional. But it usually works, because the dead guy isn't talking, and all of "us" can get our stories straight and make it the fault of the dead guy, who made a furtive move, failed to obey commands, whatever. Except this time, nobody would believe that the other cop failed to obey commands, was threatening, or otherwise justified Officer Triggerhappy's action.

It's a bad dynamic in a society when the natural reaction of any homeowner to strangers breaking in the door is to grab a weapon. Somebody smashes my door in at 2 AM, I'm not going to waste time calling 911 during the 5 seconds it takes the invaders to get to me; I'm grabbing a gun, preferably a rifle. Which means that the gangbangers, MS-13 members, drug dealers with a bad address, or cops serving a warrant on the wrong address are going to see me muzzle-first, until we reach an understanding.