Sea of blue carries Mulkeen home

A sea of blue carried fallen New York City Police Officer, and Monroe native, Brian Mulkeen home Friday morning, as an NYPD detail of thousands gathered at the Church of the Sacred Heart to say farewell.

Mulkeen, 33, was killed in a friendly fire incident Sept. 29, after a struggle with a suspect in the Bronx ended in tragedy.

Arriving in a variety of ways, members of law enforcement, family, friends and community members came to salute a man who has been widely described as having a servant’s heart of gold.

Riding two by two, a motorcycle unit circled the church, lights flashing, as quiet stilled the crowd and the plaintive strains of bagpipers could be heard in the distance.

The blue skies doming the church were punctuated by police helicopters flying in formation, while the American, Irish and NYPD flags snapped at attention in the gusty winds.

Filing in slowly, a somber solemnity in their steps, hundreds packed the church, while thousands more waited outside as Cardinal Timothy Dolan celebrated a funeral Mass honoring Mulkeen’s life and sacrifice.

In a nod to the Oct. 4 feast of St. Francis of Assisi, “The Prayer of St. Francis” was sung during the service, the lyrics of which reference being used as a channel of peace in the world.

As a member of The Bronx Anti-Crime Unit, Mulkeen’s job entailed taking illegal guns off the street and responding to violent crime.

“It takes a tremendous amount of courage and skill to do the work Brian and his team were so adept at doing,” NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill said in his eulogy. “Most ordinary people, when faced with a life-threatening situation, would have the instinctual reaction to run away. But Brian was anything but ordinary.”

Leaving behind a job at Merrill Lynch, Mulkeen began his career in law enforcement as a dispatcher for the Town of Tuxedo Police Department, his obituary said. He graduated from Ulster County Law Enforcement Training Group program and pursued his dream to become an NYPD police officer, first joining The Bronx's 48th Precinct before moving to The Bronx Anti-Crime Unit in 2017.

“When we look at Brian's life – a phenomenal one sacrificed in service to the people of our great city – we see an unwavering dedication to the community,” O’Neill said. “We see a committed public servant – a cop, a son, a friend. We see a person who cared deeply for complete strangers – even those he had arrested – because that was his calling.”

O’Neill also said that Mulkeen had been promoted to Detective First Grade posthumously.

“May God bless Detective Brian Mulkeen,” he said. “May he live on in the hearts and good deeds of all who knew him. And may God bless and protect every member of the New York City Police Department and law enforcement around the nation, who will forever now carry on his most important work.”

The NYPD Mounted Unit rode up Still Road in a final send off, as the funeral procession continued on to Ascension Cemetery in Airmont for interment.

A 2008 graduate of the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University, with a “distinguished” undergraduate sports career, Mulkeen was about to return to Fordham as a volunteer coach, the school said.

Mulkeen lived in Yorktown Heights with his girlfriend Sherry, who is also a police officer in the Bronx.

All Town of Monroe municipal building flags were flown at half-staff through Oct. 4, to pay tribute to Mulkeen.