Courtesy of NYPD
Sergeant Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran, was a married father of two young boys.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A City Police sergeant was shot and killed last week in a wild Bronx firefight that left another sergeant injured and the perpetrator dead.
NYPD Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, 41, sustained fatal gunshot wounds to the head and chest last Friday afternoon after he and Sgt. Emmanuel Kwo exchanged fire with career criminal Manuel Rosales on Bronx River Avenue, cops said.
Kwo, 30, was shot in the leg, treated at Jacobi Medical Center and released. Rosales, 35, was shot and killed by a rookie officer.
“It is with tremendous anguish that I have to tell you that today an NYPD sergeant was shot and killed while doing his job – while trying to keep the people of New York City safe,” Police Commissioner Jim O’Neill said moments after the incident.
According to O’Neill, on Friday around 2:45 p.m. a woman called 911 and said that a man armed with a gun had broken into her apartment on Beach Avenue. That information was relayed over the department radio.
As patrol units from Tuozzolo and Kwo’s 43rd Precinct were responding, the radio dispatcher advised them that the suspect had just fled the scene and was driving a red Jeep. Roughly seven minutes later, the suspect’s vehicle was seen at Noble Court and Bronx River Avenue by a marked patrol car, about a half-mile from the original Beach Avenue call.
As Tuozzolo and Kwo approached the vehicle, Rosales opened fire at them with a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun. Cops returned fire.
Both sergeants were rushed to Jacobi. Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran, was later pronounced dead.
An initial investigation revealed that Rosales is the estranged husband of a female occupant of the apartment on Beach Avenue. Earlier that day, Rosales forcibly entered the apartment, armed with a gun. Present at that time was his 29-year-old estranged wife, their 3-year-old son, another 13-year-old child, and a 50-year-old woman who was the original 911 caller, O’Neill said.
Tuozzolo is survived by his wife and two young boys.
The Sergeants Benevolent Association has created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the family of the slain officer. According to the SBA, all monies raised will go to the Sergeants Benevolent Association Widows and Children’s Fund and will be used for education for the children and other needs of the family of Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo. Donations made are given with the understanding that such funds will be a gift to the family.
“Please keep Sgts. Tuozzolo and Kwo and their loved ones and colleagues in your thoughts and prayers during this extremely challenging and heartbreaking time,” the union wrote at gofundme.com/SergeantTuozzolo.
“It is a tough time for our police officers,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “They are feeling deeply the loss on Friday of Sergeant Paul Tuozzolo. And I have talked to a number of officers in the last few days and offered my condolences to them. And one thing is clear – is that people are feeling this deeply. And they honor their fallen comrade and the heroic act that he took to save the lives of so many others.”
