Kansas City Police Officer Kills Firefighter Just Hours After Wedding

At approximately 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning, six-year veteran firefighter, Anthony V. Bruno of the Kansas City Fire Department was fatally shot by a city police officer. He was 26 years old. It was reported the police officer was responding to a disturbance involving the assault of a cab driver in the downtown area of the city.

Kansas City Police Department spokesperson Ty Grant reports that the uniformed officer located a suspect near the 13th street and Baltimore Ave. intersection. PressTV reports that the officer claims when he approached the suspect, the man charged to attack him.

The officer emphasized that he feared for his life, and shot Bruno in the chest in self-defense. The police department also stated that the officer did attempt to perform CPR on Bruno once he was down, but to no avail. Bruno was transported to the hospital by ambulance where he later died. The police officer also sustained serious injuries, and was taken to the hospital well.

The Kansas City Fire Chief, Paul Berardi, released a brief statement in regards to Bruno’s death and the state of his family. Berardi also shared that he had been with the family since the received the devastating news. “Although specific details of the incident are still being gathered,” Berardi said in a statement Sunday afternoon, “KCPD Chief Forte and I have already spoken a number of times and will continue to remain in contact.”

Berardi went on to speak fondly of Bruno, and his tenure with the fire department. “Friends and family of the Kansas City Fire Department remember Anthony Bruno as a courageous and dedicated firefighter who had been with the department since 2008.”

Bruno, who was a third-generation firefighter, is survived by his father, who is a retired deputy fire chief, his mother, two sisters, and his new wife. He and his wife married Nov. 16, but celebrated their nuptials just hours before the fatal shooting took place.