Death 'imminent' for Jersey City police officer
VICTOR EPSTEIN and BETH DeFALCO
The Associated Press
JERSEY CITY, N.J. - A Jersey City police officer critically wounded in a shootout with two robbery suspects last week was placed on life support and is not expected to survive, officials said Monday.
"Officer Marc DiNardo's condition has deteriorated and his demise is imminent," Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey said Monday afternoon.
The 37-year-old was shot in the face with a shotgun blast as he and other officers tried to storm an apartment on July 16.
DiNardo had no signs of life when he arrived at Jersey City Medical Center Thursday and had to be revived several times before he could be stabilized in critical condition.
His family issued a statement over the weekend calling him "a fighter" and thanking the community for its "overwhelming support and prayers." The 10-year veteran has a 3-year-old son and two daughters, ages 1 and 4.
"He will be greatly missed. He had a personality you could never forget, and when he walked into a room we all loved him," said Officer Melissa Bartholomew, a friend and fellow police academy classmate of DiNardo.
Bartholomew said the family will be donating DiNardo's organs.
Five officers were injured by buckshot and solid shotgun slugs during the close-quarters gunfight that followed in a nearby apartment building. Robbery suspects Hassan Shakur, 32, and his wife, Amanda Anderson, 22, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Officer Michael Camacho, who was initially listed in critical condition for a gunshot wound to the neck, was upgraded to serious but guarded condition Sunday.
DiNardo and 25-year-old Camacho, were the first SWAT officers inside Shakur's apartment during the assault, which began when a battering ram smashed the steel door open. Shakur was five feet away and opened fire as the door swung open. He and Anderson were wanted in connection with a June 18 armed robbery in Jersey City, in which a man was shot in the stomach with the shotgun. They also were suspected of a similar robbery in South Carolina.
Shakur was buried in Jersey City on Monday in a traditional Muslim ceremony. Beforehand, his sister offered an emotional apology for her brother's actions.
"I want to apologize to the state of New Jersey for the terror that my brother brought upon your city," said Monique Hosendove, who traveled from Hampton, S.C., for her brother's funeral.
"I am so sorry to the families of all the officers," she said, adding that she was especially sorry to hear of DiNardo's worsening condition. "We were praying so hard for him to pull through."
"My family is grieving the loss of my brother, because we didn't understand what was inside his head that would make him hurt people when he was such a lovely person , the one we knew."
According to autopsies released Monday on Shakur and Anderson, 19 bullets were found in Shakur's body.
"He was hit more times than that," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said. "There were numerous wounds , to the head, torso and extremities , above the 19."
Anderson died from a gunshot wound to the base of the skull and was also hit in the hand, he said.
DeFazio said Shakur fired his shotgun a total of 10 times , three outside and seven from inside his apartment. At least six officers fired more than 50 times inside the apartment complex. DeFazio said that number was so high because at least two of the weapons police used were automatic.
DiNardo had arrested Shakur in 2002 for illegal firearms possession.
The other Jersey City officers wounded by gunfire were Frank Molina, 35, and Marc Lavelle, 43. Port Authority police officer Dennis Mitchell, 35, was also shot.
Three other officers were treated and released for minor injuries.
Mayor Jerramiah Healy said the police department and city government were shaken by the incident, but continuing to do their jobs.
"The emotional toll on the officers involved , their families, the other members of their units and their chiefs , has been enormous," Healy said Monday. "There were plenty of tears in the hospital Thursday and Friday and there will be more."