#Off-duty NYPD cop commits suicide in Queens

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NYPD together at Elmhurst Hospital to support one of their own after an off-duty cop shot himself in the head
Kevin Downs

An NYPD cop fatally shot himself in the head early Sunday in Queens, according to authorities and police sources.

First responders found the unidentified off-duty Finest critically wounded inside an apartment on 23rd Street near 31st Avenue in Astoria around 1:50 a.m., officials said.

The lawman, who was assigned to the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville, Brooklyn and had four years on the job, succumbed to his wounds hours later at Elmhurst Hospital, sources said.

He is at least the third NYPD cop to die by suicide in 2020.

In February, veteran Det. Paul Federico took his life inside his Queens home.

The next month, an NYPD transit cop fatally shot herself inside a department locker-room in Midtown Manhattan.

The department has recently brought in a slew of mental-health resources, as it was rocked in 2019 by 10 suicides among active-duty members — double the typical number for a year.