Page 31 - FOP June 2019 Magazine

40 from the Department converged on the Omni Shoreham to join the festivities. They came to feel what Abigail Hawk, one of the stars of the hit CBS police drama “Blue Bloods” who pre- sented the award as part of the Top Cops Academy Awards aura, conveyed: “The broad-shouldered brothers in blue who put an end to an already tragic day and prevented it from becoming much, much worse.”
Each of the Department’s honored officers added sentiments that furthered the significance of this recognition.
“I’ll never forget that day. I’ll never forget about Sam,” sub- mitted Quijano, who works in 001. “After that incident, I really felt a tighter bond with not only the CPD community, but with all of law enforcement.”
Alderden recognized what the honor and the response meant to all Chicago Police Officers.
“All of the training we had enabled us to not hesitate, to go in immediately and neutralize the threat,” explained the lieu- tenant from 001. “That’s what a Chicago Police Officer is trained to do.”
Turcinovic expressed what was on the mind of every Chicago Police Officer in the room on this night and in the Department. “It’s obviously a great honor to receive such a prestigious award,” he articulated. “The only thing I could wish for more is
to turn back time and prevent that incident from happening.” One of the loudest ovations came when a video showcasing the response, with interviews from some of the key players, broadcasted that Turcinovic took out the shooter with a bullet to the chest from 70 feet away. Such marksmanship is perhaps what made the 13-year veteran of the Department want to move
to SWAT four years ago.
Officer Bernardo Quijano speaks to the audience after being honored as a Top Cop.
When he arrived on the scene, Turcinovic followed Alderden and Jimenez into the hospital not knowing where the shoot- er had gone. When they encountered him, the shooter began rounds of gunfire that would eventually add up to nearly 40
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