NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An NYPD precinct commander fatally shot himself in the head inside a department vehicle in Queens on Monday, according to reports from multiple outlets.
Officers found 44-year-old Deputy Inspector Denis Mullaney dead in his department vehicle across from Kissena Park at the corner of Underhill Avenue and 164th Street just after 5:10 p.m., sources told the Daily News.
Sources told the New York Post that before his death, Mullaney had made a call to family members that led them to believe he was suicidal.
Officials tried to locate his phone but was found unconscious and unresponsive by the time they got to the vehicle on Underhill Avenue near the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, the outlet added.
Mullaney was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, sources told the New York Post.
Mullaney joined the NYPD in 2000 and in late 2020 he was appointed to head the 107th Precinct in Queens.
He is believed to be the first police to die by suicide this year following a string of NYPD cops that took their own lives in the past two years.