NEW YORK _ A veteran city cop shot himself in the head Wednesday in his Queens home, the ninth New York Police Department officer to commit suicide this year.
Police rushed to the Laurelton home of off-duty Robert Echeverria, 56, just before 6:20 p.m., after his wife called 911 to say he was a police officer and that he'd shot himself, sources said.
The officer's wife found him on the floor and the gun on his bed, sources said. Medics rushed him to North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital but he could not be saved.
Sources said Echeverria joined the NYPD 25 years ago, and was a member of the elite Strategic Response Group, which handles events like mass shootings and large protests.
The shooting comes just a day after NYPD officer Johnny Rios, 35, fatally shot himself in the head inside his Yonkers home. Four officers killed themselves in June, including Rios' friend Kevin Preiss.
The grim death toll has rattled the department, and the NYPD has retooled its response to department suicides, encouraging all officers to seek mental health counseling if they have suicidal thoughts.
