TOWN OF SALINA, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — A City of Syracuse police officer and Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputy were shot and killed in the line of duty Sunday night.
“We lost two heroes tonight,” Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile said at an early morning briefing outside Upstate University Hospital.
He was not ready to share the names of the officer and deputy.
The two were among the officers who responded to a home on Darien Drive to investigate a stolen vehicle, Syracuse Police say.
Darien Drive is in the Oot neighborhood off Hopkins Road.
The incident began when a pair of Syracuse Police officers attempted to pull over the suspicious vehicle near the Tipperary Hill intersection of Emerson Avenue and Hamilton Street, a spokesperson for Syracuse Police said.
After the vehicle sped off without pulling over, Syracuse Police used license plate information to track it to the registered owner’s home on Darien Drive.
Chief Cecile said: “They asked for assistance from the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office because they learned additional information the individual driving the vehicle might be armed. Officers from the city and county arrived at the residence on Darien Drive about the same time.”
It’s not clear how many officers or deputies arrived as part of the initial response.
“While they were inspecting the vehicle and saw what appeared to be guns inside,” the Chief explained, “they heard what sounded like someone manipulating a firearm from inside the residence. Moments later, there was an exchange of gunfire between at least one suspect and the officers and deputies.”
The officer, deputy, and suspect were all hit, driven to the hospital, and pronounced dead.
Police haven’t said how many shots were fired or who hit whom.
While the suspected shooter is dead, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office was working overnight to get the court’s permission to enter the home to search for others involved in the initial crime. There’s no indication additional people were involved in the deadly shooting.
Outside Upstate University Hospital, hundreds of first responders lined up to support their injured brothers. Once they had passed away, those officers stood at attention and saluted when the bodies were moved from the emergency department to the medical examiner’s officer in a procession.
