According to police, an off-duty rookie NYPD officer involved in a fatal on-duty shooting last year committed suicide in his Staten Island home early Thursday. Sources say the 22-year-old cop, identified as Colin Rossiter, shot himself in the head around 1:50 a.m. inside a home in the Woodrow neighborhood.
A gun was discovered nearby. Rossiter was rushed to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
NYPD Officer Dead In Suicide
According to police sources, the young cop who was discovered by his father, a retired NYPD sergeant, was appointed to the department in October 2021 and worked midnight shifts. According to his father, his son appeared to be fine before going into his bedroom until he heard a gunshot and ran into the room to find him mortally wounded.
According to the sources, the deceased officer worked in the 60th Precinct, which covers Coney Island, Brighton Beach, West Brighton Beach, and Sea Gate.
On Thursday, no one answered the door at his Staten Island home. “This kid is well known and loved,” a neighbor said, referring to one of several NYPD officers who live on the same block. He referred to the neighborhood as “a silver service neighborhood,” referring to the high concentration of cops and firefighters who live there. “They’re a wonderful family,” a neighbor said of the cop’s relatives, nypost.com reported.
On Thursday, Rossiter’s college fraternity, Kappa Sigma Rho-Sigma, gave him a shout-out on Facebook.
Investigation
According to sources, the incident is still being investigated by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, which claims there is no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the officers. Former cop Mayor Eric Adams stated on Thursday: “After the shooting, I reached out to the officers who were involved, because I just know that after an encounter like that, of good people, you know what officers can go through,”
He added: “These are young children, you know? Twenty-one, 22 years old,”
“And when I communicated with them I just told them, ‘You’re protecting New Yorkers,’
“It just really broke my heart that we lost this young man,”
The young cop’s suicide is the third this year among NYPD officers.