Anthony Bruno was shot about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, just hours after he had been married Saturday, Fire Department spokesman James Garrett said.
The officer, who has not been identified, was working an off-duty job when he responded to a reported assault downtown on a cab driver, police said. When the officer approached, the man attacked him.
“During the assault, the subject pinned the officer to the ground and struck him multiple times about his face and head,” Police spokesman Capt. Tye Grant said in an email Monday. “Fearing for his life, the officer eventually fired his handgun, striking the man.”
Bruno was pronounced dead at a hospital.
“It’s a pretty devastating loss,’ Garrett said Monday. “We’re all one big family. We intimately know the Brunos.”
Fire Chief Paul Berardi said Bruno was “a courageous and dedicated firefighter who had been with the department since 2008.” He is survived by his father, who is a retired deputy fire chief, his mother, two sisters and his new wife.
Grant said the officer was taken to a hospital with severe head injuries.
“He has been released from the hospital while his swelling goes down. Once it does, he will return to the hospital for surgery to repair facial injuries,” Grant said.
Grant said the investigation “is still in progress.”
Garrett, with the fire department, said police have “assured us it’s going to be an unbiased, thorough investigation.”