A police officer and a sheriff’s deputy were killed in a shooting in an upstate New York neighborhood where they got into a shootout with a suspect on Sunday night.
The incident happened just after 8 p.m. in Liverpool, located about 6 miles north of Syracuse, while law enforcement officials were investigating a stolen vehicle.
Two Syracuse Police Department officers had tried to pull over the vehicle, which was suspicious, earlier that night but the vehicle fled the scene. The officers tracked the vehicle’s license plate to a home in Liverpool. The officers, along with more Syracuse police officers and Onondaga County sheriff’s deputies who arrived, found what seemed to be firearms inside the vehicle.
According to Syracuse Police Chief Joseph Cecile, the officers then heard a sound that seemed like someone was manipulating a firearm inside the home.
Shortly after, a shootout erupted between law enforcement and at least one suspect.
One of the two Syracuse officers who initially tried to pull over the vehicle got struck alongside one of the sheriff’s deputies who joined at the suspect’s home. Both officers were rushed to a hospital where they were pronounced dead.
The suspect was also hit in the gunfire and pronounced dead at the hospital.
Detailing the events of the night at a press conference, Cecile said, “We lost two heroes tonight. Two men who answered the call to duty to put on the badge to protect the community, protect and serve. We lost two of them tonight.”
Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley also called the day a “sad day for law enforcement,” as he described the late deputy as a “seasoned” law enforcement officer who was “very well-liked in his community.”
For Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, it was a “dark day for Syracuse.”
“This is our worst nightmare come true. And our thoughts right now are with the families of those two officers, two heroes, and if anyone knows the family member of a police officer, give them a hug. This is their worst nightmare and we just need to be there for everyone in the law enforcement community today,” he said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also reacted to the officers’ shooting deaths in a post on X.
I am horrified by the senseless killing of a Syracuse Police Officer and an Onondaga County Sheriff’s Deputy last night,” she wrote, adding, “My prayers are with their families, loved ones, and their colleagues. New York will never forget their heroism and service.”
I am horrified by the senseless killing of a Syracuse Police Officer and an Onondaga County Sheriff’s Deputy last night.
My prayers are with their families, loved ones, and their colleagues. New York will never forget their heroism and service.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) April 15, 2024
In photos published by the New York Post, dozens of police and sheriff’s department officials stood alongside the streets outside the hospital where the deceased law enforcement officials were taken, making salutations as law enforcement vehicles drove by.
Police investigation in the case continues, according to officials at the press conference.