Published: Feb. 19, 2011 at 10:38 PM
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y., Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A veteran Poughkeepsie, N.Y., police officer and a man who had just fatally shot his wife were mortally wounded in a shootout at a train station, police said.
All three died Friday at area hospitals, The Poughkeepsie Journal reported.
Mike Archer, a witness to the gunfight, told WCBS-TV, New York, the slain officer, John Falcone, 44, was the first to arrive on the scene and grabbed a 3-year-old child away from the gunman, identified Saturday as Lee Welch, 27, shortly after Welch had shot his estranged wife Jessica Poughkeepsie's Main Street. The child was not physically injured during the incident.
"This officer is not just a hero for giving up his life but also for saving this child, for getting him away from this madman and into the arms of a civilian who got him to safety," Archer said.
Police Chief Ronald Knapp said Falcone, an 18-year member of the force, had responded to a report of a shooting in a parking lot at the Metro-North train station in Poughkeepsie. Other officers arrived soon after.
"It is our belief that the suspect killed himself after firing at least two shots at the officers, one of them hitting Officer Falcone," Knapp said at a news conference Saturday.
WCBS-TV reported the estranged couple had arranged to meet at the train station so the wife could pick up her car. Her body was found in the car. He said the couple, who reportedly had three children and a history of domestic violence, were not from Poughkeepsie.
"Today is perhaps the worst day our city has seen in perhaps our history," Mayor John Tkazyik told WCBS.
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