Tragic murder-suicide on FiDi
street under investigation
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
AND TODD MAISEL
A woman was shot to death
by a boyfriend on a street
in the Financial District
of Manhattan this morning in
what police are now saying was a
murder suicide in broad daylight
Monday morning, police offi cials
said.
At 9:19 a.m. on Oct. 26,
offi cers from the 1st Precinct
responded to a 911 call regarding
a shooting in the vicinity of
Greenwich Street and Morris
Street next to the Rector Street
entrance to the subway under a
scaffolding.
When they arrived, cops found
a 40-year-old woman had been
shot twice in the head at the location
and a 46-year-old man was
shot in the abdomen. Offi cials
Police investigate the scene of an apparent murder-suicide in the Financial District on Oct. 26, 2020.
said both were unconscious at
the scene.
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
Firefighters and advocates applaud restoration
of 9/11 funds for FDNY
BY TODD MAISEL
The Trump administration did an
about-face over the weekend and restored
$4 million that was siphoned
from a 9/11 program designed to track and
treat FDNY fi refi ghters and medics suffering
from illnesses related to work at World
Trade Center after the terror attacks.
The Treasury Department started
withholding parts of payments meant
to cover medical services for fi refi ghters,
emergency medical technicians and
paramedics treated by the FDNY World
Trade Center Health Program, starting
four years ago.
The payments were made by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, which oversees the program. But
instead, the Treasury Department began
siphoning the money without having settled
the disagreement with the city.
Treasury reversed and restored the funds
when it became clear that the issue might
become a campaign issue to be used against
Trump.
Firefi ghter Anthony Mazzariello, a fi refi
ghter for 24 years, but decided to retire
in August when he contracted thyroid and
testicular cancers that are being blamed on
The woman was rushed to
NewYork-Presbyterian Lower
9/11 related illness. While his care was not
heavily impacted, he did notice that there
were fewer doctors and other health care
professionals in the medical offi ce.
Mazzariello was present on 9/11 and
worked in the recovery of fi refi ghters after
attacks. Up until August, he worked at
Engine 97 in the Bronx and “I really didn’t
want to retire.”
“I wasn’t planning on retirement, but
after the last surgery, things just weren’t
the same,” said Mazzariello who is married
with a step-son. “I thought I could be
liability, I didn’t have the same energy – I
never felt the same and things changed.
This last one was wake up call. Get out
while still have some health.”
He said he relies on the medical offi ce
for maintenance drugs for his illnesses and
his doctor visits.
“I guess now they can afford more doctors
– but it won’t be long till more of us
are passing away from sickness – past those
we lost on that day,” he sighed.
Dr. Daivd Prezant, chief medical offi cer
at the FDNY, told the Daily News that he
was docked about half a million dollars
each year in 2016 and 2017. Then it crept
up to about $630,000 in 2018 and 2019.
This year, Treasury has nearly tripled
Manhattan Hospital, where she
was pronounced dead on arrival.
Firefighters salute during ceremony on the 19th anniversary of 9/11.
its extractions, diverting $1.447 million
through late August, according to the News.
Long Island Republican Congressman
Pete King went to bat for the fi refi ghters,
after being a leader in the fi ght for the 9/11
Health Fund. King was able to convince the
administration that holding back the funds
was “a mistake.”
Attorney Michael Barasch of the law
fi rm Barasch and McGarry, representing
thousands of 9/11 victims, credited Congressman
King for restoring the funds. He
called him “our hero.”
The man was pronounced dead
at the scene.
Detectives found the fi rearm
used in the shooting next to the
man after he apparently shot himself
at close range. Police are now
confi rming this to be an apparent
murder-suicide.
The identities of the two
deceased victims were not immediately
available.
Streets around the scene
were closed for hours as police
continued their investigation,
though police say it appears the
story is conclusive. The motive for
the shooting is not immediately
known.
Construction workers planting
fl owers across the street near the
Hugh Carey Tunnel said they
rushed over and saw the woman
who they said already appeared
dead from her wounds.
“All of a sudden, we heard
boom boom, and then another
boom,” one worker said. “When
we got over there, the woman who
appeared to be Asian and disheveled,
looked like she was gone. He
seemed to still be breath.”
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
“Peter King put pressure on the federal
government and they reversed course – this
should never have happened,” Barasch said.
“The money was earmarked to the FDNY
medical offi ce, so now they will be able to
fund the doctors and nurses they need to
take care of sick fi refi ghters.”
Barasch said it was even more important
during the pandemic as “so many guys now
have compromised immune systems and
are sick during this COVID-19 pandemic.”
“We are still losing people, so this was
absolute insanity,” Barasch said.
Schneps Media October 29, 2020 3