NEW YORK — The commanding officer of a Queens police precinct shot himself in an apparent suicide Monday, the NYPD confirmed Monday night.
Deputy Inspector Denis Mullaney, who commands the 107th Precinct, called the precinct’s executive officer and said he was thinking about killing himself, police sources said.
The executive officer immediately called the NYPD’s technical assistance response unit to try and locate Mullaney’s phone, but he had already shot himself, sources said.
Cops found the 44-year-old precinct commander dead in his department vehicle at the corner of Underhill Ave. and 164th St. across from Kissena Park just after 5:10 p.m., sources said.
Mullaney joined the NYPD in 2000 and was appointed to head the 107th Precinct in late 2020.
He’s believed to be the first active-duty police officer to kill himself this year. His death comes after a spike of police suicides in 2019 and 2020.
In 2019, the NYPD grappled with 10 suicides, prompting leadership to step up its mental health outreach for cops in distress.
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