Law enforcement families speak out after the death of officer Mazurkiewicz

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Families of law enforcement say the trauma of Officer Tony Mazurkiewicz’s death is all too familiar.

After the death of Officer Daryl Pierson in 2014, they’ve formed a bond to support each other during hard times like this. For Kristin Zenelovic said the deaths of both Pierson and Mazurkiewicz remind her of her own nightmare.

“He shot at my husband,” Kristin Zenelovic said. “He was shot several times and my husband shot back and did not wound or kill him. From that day on, he recovered for over a year.”

Kristin Zenelovic is the wife of Officer Flamur Zenelovic. He was shot in 2013.

Zenelovic and her daughter Hannah said the death of Officer Mazurkiewicz hits close to home.

“It was equally as heartbreaking because we know exactly how their families are going to feel, how the community will feel, how all their brothers and sisters in blue will feel,” Hannah Zenelovic said. “So it didn’t matter who it was, we had no idea. It was just equally as traumatizing.”

A year later, in 2014, Officer Daryl Pierson was shot and killed many spouses came together to form a support group.

“We support each other,” Cristina Domingues Umbrino said. “I had wives over, the day and the week that it happened so that we could come together and just talk. No one understands this world unless you’re in it.”

Domingues Umbrino is the wife of RPD Major Crimes Captain Frank Umbrino.

“These are men and women who are getting up in the middle of dinner saying, I got to go in,” Domingues Umbrino said. “Missing birthday parties, missing events, missing holidays. It’s exhausting to then at the end of the day, not feel supported.”

Domingues Umbrino is urging for peace and healing in our community.

“At the end of the day, everybody wants the same thing,” Domingues Umbrino said. “Men and women of this department want it, law enforcement families want it and the residents in the City of Rochester want it. We all want to be safe. We all want to be living in a place where we feel safe and we’re healthy.”