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Off-Duty Cop Takes His Own Life in Astoria Sunday

Officer Richard Catapano fatally shot himself Sunday inside his 31-10 23rd St. apartment  (Google Maps)

Aug 3 2020, By Michael Dorgan

An off duty NYPD cop fatally shot himself in the head inside his Astoria apartment Sunday morning.

Officer Richard Catapano was discovered dead after police responded to a 911 call at around 1:50 a.m. of a shooting inside 31-10 23rd St. The NYPD officer had shot himself, police said, and they are treating the incident as a suicide.

Catapano carried out the act while he was with his girlfriend and a mutual friend, according to the New York Post.

He shot himself shortly after a dispute with his partner, the publication reported, and he was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Catapano joined the force in 2016 and was stationed at the 73rd precinct which serves a northeastern area of Brooklyn covering Brownsville and Ocean Hill, police said.

The police have not released any other details regarding the incident.

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12 Comments

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Carbie Barbie

Please, any time you run a story about a suicide, include this.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Hours: Available 24 hours. Languages: English, Spanish.
1-800-273-8255

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Blue Lives Matter

The anti cop hatred that’s so fashionable these days probably did not help this man’s mental and emotional state.

RIP

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Police are more likely to commit suicide

This has been a fact for year, with LOTS of evidence to back it up.

Do you have any evidence or just…some ranting?

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ABoondy

yeah, and? his point still stands. everything that has gone down on NYC cops has been a tragedy. hopefully you dont have to suffer from mental trauma like this officer did.

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you silly goose

people can’t have an anecdotal opinion anymore?…they need scientific proof for something that is obvious to most??

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I agree, you're completely wrong

The facts say you’re completely wrong. If you have a single reason you aren’t, please feel free to share! Like you said, until then it’s just an opinion, not a fact.

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these are the facts

police have been unfairly demonized in the media by political partisans for being violent and racist…FBI crime statistics show clearly that you are more likely to be killed by cops if you are white…that is simple math…the police are more restrained and have more oversight now then anytime in their history…any clown with an ounce of common sense can see this demonization for political gain has been demoralizing for the police and has obvious effect on their mental health…please stop embarrassing yourself…

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Opinions are not facts

@These are facts- Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicate Americans commit suicide at a rate of about 12 per 100,000 residents (Fields & Jones, 1999). This rate makes suicide the 9th leading cause of death in the United States. Recently, the law enforcement community has taken a close look at suicide following a rash of well-publicized suicides in the New York City Police Department in 1994 and heavy media coverage of police suicides. The purpose of our paper is to examine suicide rates in law enforcement to determine if police officers have higher suicide rates than the general population, and if there is a common profile of officers who commit suicide.
DO POLICE OFFICERS HAVE HIGHER SUICIDE RATES THAN THE GENERAL POPULATION?
At first glance, the answer to this question would appear to be yes. The statistics commonly cited in the media suggest the suicide rate for law enforcement personnel is 22 deaths per 100,000 officers compared to 12 deaths per 100,000 in the general population. This estimate of police suicide is based on a 1995 Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) study of insurance claims by 92 local chapters in 24 states (Langston, 1995). Furthermore, “experts” quoted in newspaper articles consistently state there are about 300 suicides each year by law enforcement personnel or that the police suicide rate is at least double that of the general population (see for example, Aurizio, 1997; Gold, 1999; Loh, 1994). Suites have plagued police depts. well before Fox News and it’s propaganda machine we’re around poisoning the well.

Antonia

What was happening in Astoria before Covid was sad. Now during and after covid its just plain depressing and fearful. You worry about your family, job and paying bills and then you are up all night and can not sleep because of the loud drunk partying, traffic noise, pollution and crime. It can drive anyone to a breaking point.

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Frances in Woodside

Its not just in Astoria its all over . For someone to take his own life is troubled and
needing help. Did he reach out to anyone? We all feel like we cant go on but ending our life is not the solution .

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How do you know what solution he could have had?

You have never faced the thought of suicide, I can tell.

Kindly do not say anything more at this point.

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Ally

Astoria and LIC have one of the highest number of restaurants and bars through out the city. Its very stressful. Do you not see all the social media posts from residents begging the city for help of the noise and crowds. The partying is taking is place on every Ave on Astoria. The governor jumped on on this quickly to save face. He can always blame the rise in shootings on the Mayor.

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