Page 7 - aruba-today-20191005

A7
U.S. NEWS Saturday 5 OctOber 2019
NYPD officer killed by friendly fire is hailed as a hero

By RYAN TARINELLI which 15 shots were fired in
Associated Press 10 seconds by six officers.
MONROE, N.Y. (AP) — With Deputy Chief Kevin Malo-
bagpipers marching silently ney said five of those shots
to the beat of a somber came from Mulkeen after
drum, a New York City po- the armed man reached
lice officer killed by friendly toward his waistband.
fire was honored at his fu- The armed man was also
neral Friday as a hero and killed in the gunfire.
a dedicated, compassion- Mulkeen, the grandson
ate professional who put his of a New York City police
heart into his work. officer, has been posthu-
Officer Brian Mulkeen, who mously promoted to de-
was hit Sunday by two po- tective first grade, O’Neill
lice bullets while tussling announced.
with an armed man in the Only one person was re-
Bronx, was the second New sponsible for Mulkeen’s
York City officer killed by death, O’Neill said at the
friendly fire this year. funeral: the man who car-
“We are here to honor a ried a “loaded and illegal
hero” and “celebrate the gun and decided to run
life of an absolutely re- from police.”
markable man,” said Po- The police commissioner
lice Commissioner James P. The casket bearing police officers Brian Mulkeen is carried from Church of the Sacred Heart, highlighted Mulkeen’s work
O’Neill, who choked back Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 in Monroe, N.Y. fighting violent activity and
emotion as he addressed Associated Press taking guns off the street,
mourners. family member too.” 33-year-old officer made and graduated from high saying it was his job to go
Mulkeen “understood that Mulkeen, a graduate of an arrest and took a gun school just miles from the after the most violent and
his work required his whole Fordham University’s busi- off the street. church, according to an dangerous people in the
heart and all the compas- ness school, had worked as Hundreds, if not thousands, obituary. city.
sion that was in him,” May- a financial adviser for Mer- of officers in their dark blues Mulkeen, who joined the Mulkeen lived in suburban
or Bill de Blasio said. The of- rill Lynch from 2007 to 2009 flooded the street outside department in January Yorktown Heights with his
ficer, for instance, kept in but left and pursued a life the Church of the Sacred 2013, was working with a girlfriend, who is a police
touch with a teen he had of public service. Heart in Monroe, north of plainclothes unit when he officer.
arrested, inviting him to “He could have taken an New York City. and his partners encoun- NYPD Detective Brian Si-
play basketball. easier path. That wasn’t Amid the hum of bagpipes, tered the armed man. monsen was killed by
“He undoubtedly changed Brian,” de Blasio said. “He they crisply saluted as Mul- The man fled on foot, and friendly fire in February.
the direction of that young wanted to be at the front keen’s flag-draped cas- officers chased him. Mul- He was hit in the chest by
man’s life,” said de Blasio, line. He wanted to protect ket was carried inside the keen and the man started crossfire as he and other of-
adding that the family was people.” church, which overlooks to wrestle. ficers fired at a robbery sus-
“devastated” by Mulkeen’s Even the night before his the hills of Orange County. Police have described a pect who pretended to be
death, “as if they’d lost a death, the mayor said, the He was raised in Monroe chaotic confrontation in firing a fake handgun.q

New Atlantic City mayor’s vow: I’ll follow the law

By WAYNE PARRY corruption was chronicled stepped down shortly af-
Associated Press in the hit HBO series “Board- ter New Jersey’s attorney
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) walk Empire.” general filed court papers
— Marty Small began his Small, 45, said he would seeking his ouster under
tenure as acting mayor not talk about Gilliam other New Jersey’s Forfeiture of
of Atlantic City by setting than to ask residents to pray Public Office law. Small has
a seemingly low bar for for the former mayor and run several times for mayor
himself, yet one that has his family. Gilliam could get and lost a primary to Gil-
tripped up many of his pre- 20 years in prison when he is liam in 2017. Small himself
decessors in the ethically sentenced Jan. 7. has been charged twice
challenged city. Gilliam, 49, pleaded guilty — and acquitted twice —
“I’m going to follow the law Thursday in federal court in of election-related fraud in
at all times,” he declared. Camden to stealing money cases he maintains were
Small was speaking at a that was purportedly for politically motivated.
ceremonial swearing in- the basketball team and How long he might serve
ceremony in City Hall a day for school supplies for poor as mayor is uncertain. Be-
after his predecessor, Frank children. But prosecutors Marty Small speaks at a swearing-in ceremony in Atlantic City, cause an incumbent may-
Gilliam Jr., admitted steal- say he used it on himself — N.J. on Friday Oct. 4, 2019 after becoming the gambling resort’s or resigned in the midst of
ing $87,000 from a youth for trips, fancy clothes and acting mayor. a term, the law calls for the
basketball team he had other personal expenses. Associated Press city Democratic Commit-
founded. Gilliam resigned Gilliam apologized to resi- tive immediately,” Gilliam ure.” Yet his lawyer issued tee to nominate three can-
hours later. dents in a letter Thursday af- wrote in a letter filed with a statement trying to lessen didates to the City Council
And so the mayoral merry- ternoon. “It is with a heavy the city clerk. “My sincere the perceived severity of within 15 days. The council
go-round spun yet again in heart that I tender my resig- apologies to each constitu- the crime, noting that Gil- must select a candidate
this seaside gambling resort nation as the Mayor of the ent that voted for me and liam stole private money, within 30 days to become
whose long, rich history of City of Atlantic City, effec- had high hopes in my ten- not public funds. Gilliam the next mayor.q