HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- Nine years after NYPD Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo was shot and killed in the Bronx, a Ford Mustang he’d been working on at the time of his death has “come home” to his family on Long Island.
Tuozzolo, 41, was responding to a domestic call in the Van Nest section on Nov. 4, 2016, when he was shot and killed by a man who’d been holding his estranged wife and others at gunpoint.
Tuozzolo, who was a year away from retirement, was working on fixing up the 1990 Mustang when he was killed.
His widow, Lisa Tuozzolo, said the car remained covered in the family’s garage in Huntington ever since as “a memory and a reminder of Paul, and me being too afraid to have it touched or anything done with it, because it’s his memory.”
That all changed when an anonymous donor gave $30,000 to make the car perfect. Hundreds came to the family’s home Tuesday as they were reunited with the refurbished vehicle.
The couple’s sons, now 12 and 13 years old, became emotional at seeing the Mustang running again—their father’s project finally finished.
“Having his car finally home again and that void in our garage filled, just feels right,” Tuozzolo said. “It feels like Paul is coming home, and the symbol of the boys growing up and being a part of Paul and having that connection to him.”