An armed ex-con fatally shot a NYPD sergeant to 2 feet apart and wounded a second officer when police approached his car in the Bronx on Friday.
The gunman died in a barrage of police bullets, leaving his bloodstained hanging from the open door of the vehicle torso.
Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, 41, was fatally hit in the head and chest during the violent exchange.
The second policeman – Sgt. Emmanuel Kwo, 30, was hit in the right leg and is expected to survive after the shooting 3 p.m in Van Nest.
Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran, lived with his wife, Lisa, and two sons — ages 3 and 4 — in Huntington, L. I.
“The city is in mourning and the family of the NYPD is in mourning at the loss of a very good man,” Mayor de Blasio said at a news conference at Jacobi Medical Center. “A devoted man. A man who committed his life to protecting all of us.”
The incident unfolded after the gunman broke into an apartment where his estranged wife had been staying with their 3-year-old son and another woman on Beach Ave. near Merrill St. in Van Nest, police said.
The woman reported to 911 dispatchers about 2:45 p.m. that the killer — identified as Manuel Rosales, a 35-year-old from Brentwood, L. I., with a long rap sheet — was armed.
Moments after cops were sent to the scene, police learned that Rosales fled in a red Jeep Cherokee, cops said.
Officers inside two marked patrol cars spotted the vehicle outside a storage facility on Bronx River Ave., sources said.
Rosales hit the gas and tried to make a U-turn — but the cops boxed him in, sources said.
Tuozzolo and Kwo approached the SUV with their weapons drawn and demanded the suspect step out from behind the wheel.
There was no response, so the officers inched closer, sources said.
They could not see Rosales’ .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. When the sergeants were within 2 feet of the jeep, Rosales started blasting away — striking Tuozzolo and Kwo, sources said.
Two officers with Kwo and Tuozzolo, including a 25-year-old NYPD recruit on field training, returned fire, sources said.
“He handled himself like a 30-year veteran,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said of the rookie.
Rosales — who had 17 prior arrests and served three stints in prison — was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hours after the gun battle, his bloodied body could be seen dangling outside the driver’s side window of his SUV, which had crashed into the side of Tuck It Away Storage.
The wounded cops — both based out of the 43rd Precinct — were rushed to Jacobi Medical Center by fellow officers.
Tuozzolo’s family was still enroute to the hospital when he died, sources said.
“I always talk about what a great job this is, but there’s nothing worse than a day like today,” said NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill.
A source who was inside the hospital room described a heart-breaking scene when the slain cop’s wife arrived and was told the tragic news.
“The wife, mother and father were all huddled together crying trying to console each other,” the source said. “The wife is devastated.”
Dozens of glum-faced cops gathered outside the hospital Friday afternoon, while several more lined the hallways inside.
Rosales had shown up at the Bronx home on Thursday, the evening before the shootout, and threatened to kill his wife, who had taken out orders of protection against him in July.
She called 911, but by the time police arrived, Rosales was gone, sources said.
He then busted his way into the apartment Friday and held his wife hostage for hours. The couple’s 3-year-old son, another child, 13, and the 50-year-old woman who was eventually able to call the cops were all in the home, sources said.
The shooter’s mother-in-law, Carol Giattino, 54, told the Daily News the rampage wasn’t out of character for Rosales.
“He was my son in law, unfortunately,” she said. “I’ve seen all the results of his violence. He was a very violent person and I’m so sorry this happened to the officers. . . . He violated an order of protection and nobody took it seriously.”
Rosales has been arrested twice earlier this year for domestic violence in Suffolk County.
In July, he was locked up in Bay Shore for grabbing his wife by the hair and yanking her head — violating an order of protection she had against him.
Rosales was due in court on Nov. 16.
The gunman’s father, also Manuel Rosales, told reporters to get off his Long Island property Friday night.
“My son just died . . . We’re just finding everything out, same as you, and are not really talking to media right now,” he said.
His son was behind bars from April 2012 to June 2014 on charges of possessing stolen property. He also was jailed from July 2006 to March 2010 on charges of assault and driving without a license.
His first stint in prison lasted from July 2001 to December 2002 for unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Gov. Cuomo, in a statement, expressed condolences to the officer’s family.
An American flag was lowered to half-staff outside the 43rd Precinct stationhouse.
Aurora Carrion, president of the 43rd Precinct Community Council, expressed fury over the sergeant’s death.
“I’m so upset about this whole thing,” Carrion said. “This has to stop. This is terrible, this gun violence.”
“I’m so upset about this whole thing,” Carrion said. “This has to stop. This is terrible, this gun violence.”
Some residents near the scene only learned about the shooting after hearing police choppers overhead.
“I heard the chopper like it was in my bedroom. That’s how I knew it was close,” said one resident. “It’s so sad. My brother’s a cop. That’s really heartbreaking.”
Donald Trump, at a rally in Wilmington, Ohio, referenced the shootings before the death of the officer was announced.
“Just now, just a couple of hours ago, two New York City police officers, supposed to be two great people, were shot in the Bronx,” Trump said. “Badly, badly shot. We send our thoughts and prayers to the officers and their families.”
Some residents near the scene only learned about the shooting after hearing police choppers overhead.
“I heard the chopper like it was in my bedroom. That’s how I knew it was close,” said one resident. “It’s so sad. My brother’s a cop. That’s really heartbreaking.”
The last police officer killed in the line of duty was Detective Randolph Holder, who was shot dead on Oct. 20, 2015, while responding to a shooting near E. 102nd St. and First Ave. in East Harlem.
Tyrone Howard, a career criminal, was charged with his murder. He is still awaiting trial.
