Biographical Info
Age: 45
Tour of Duty: 22 years
Badge Number: 167

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Thursday, November 20, 1997
Weapon Used: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect Info: Committed suicide after shootout

Sergeant Patrick King was shot and killed by a wanted murderer who had been arrested by the same agency two weeks earlier under an alias. Sergeant King was on his meal break and had just ordered food at a local restaurant. Unknown to Sergeant King, the suspect had called 911 twice in the preceding few minutes in an attempt to lure a Police Officer to the area. The suspect was wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a murder he had committed in Massachusetts in 1996. After learning that the FBI was searching for him, the suspect vowed that he would not go to prison and decided to kill as many Police officers as needed to before killing himself.

As Sergeant King was standing at the counter of the restaurant waiting for his order, the suspect walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head twice with a .38 caliber handgun. The suspect then took Sergeant King's service weapon and stole his patrol car. While in the patrol car, he taunted other officers over the radio.

The suspect then car-jacked two separate cars and led New Jersey State Police and other Long Branch police officers on a 50 mile high speed chase which ended on the George Washington Bridge that connects New Jersey to New York City. After crashing his vehicle on the bridge, the suspect engaged other officers in a gunfight before taking his own life with Sergeant King's weapon.

A police officer from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department was accidentally shot and wounded by a New Jersey State trooper in the shootout on the bridge.

Sergeant King had served with the Long Branch Police Department for 22 years and is survived by his wife and two sons.
 

Biographical Info
Age: 31
Tour of Duty: 8 years
Badge Number: 1625

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Terrorist attack
Date of Incident: Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Weapon Used: Aircraft; Passenger jet
Suspect Info: 19 suicide attackers

Officer Richard Rodriguez was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while attempting to rescue the victims trapped in the World Trade Center.

Officer Rodriguez was at the police academy at the time the first plane struck and he immediately responded to the scene with other officers, arriving just as the second plane hit the towers. Officer Rodriguez was credited with saving many lives before being killed during the second collapse.

Officer Rodriguez had served with the Port Authority Police for 8 years and was assigned to the Police Academy.

He is survived by his wife.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, seventy-two officers from a total of eight local, state, and federal agencies were killed when terrorist hijackers working for the al Qaeda terrorist network, headed by Osama bin Laden, crashed two of four hijacked planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. After the impact of the first plane, putting the safety of others before their own, law enforcement officers along with fire and EMS personnel, rushed to the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to aid the victims and lead them to safety. Due to their quick actions, it is estimated that over 25,000 people were saved.

As the evacuation continued, the first tower unexpectedly collapsed due as a result of the intense fire caused by the impact. The second tower collapsed a short time later. 71 law enforcement officers, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department and over 2,800 civilians were killed at the World Trade Center site.

A third hijacked plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania when the passengers attempted to re-take control of the plane. One law enforcement officer, who was a passenger on the plane, was killed in that crash.

The fourth hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, killing almost 200 military and civilian personnel. No law enforcement officers were killed at the Pentagon.

The terrorist attacks resulted in the declaration of war against the Taliban regime, the illegal rulers of Afghanistan, and the al Qaeda terrorist network which also was based in Afghanistan.

On September 9, 2005, all of the public safety officers killed on September 11, 2001, were posthumously awarded the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor by President George W. Bush.

The contamination in the air at the World Trade Center site caused many rescue personnel to become extremely ill, and eventually led to the death of several rescue workers.

Please click here to visit the memorials of all of the law enforcement officers killed in this terrorist attack.