New York State police say a trooper was shot and killed when he responded to a call of a suicidal man in the Southern Tier Monday morning.
State Police First Deputy Superintendent Chris Fiore said several agencies responded to the home in Erwin, near Corning, around 3:30 a.m.
“During the course of the response, Trooper Nicholas Clark was shot and killed by the suspect,” Fiore said at a press conference Monday afternoon. “The suspect was later found deceased in the residence with an apparent gunshot wound. Trooper Clark was 29 years old, lived in Troupsburg, New York.”
At the press conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo called it a senseless act of violence and applauded a Steuben County Sheriff’s deputy for risking his own life to pull Trooper Clark to safety.
State police say the investigation is ongoing. Fiore said crisis negotiators were not able to make contact with the suspect, 43-year-old Steven Kiley, at 10041 Welch Rd. Fiore said the original 911 call came from Kiley's estranged wife, who said Kiley had stated he was thinking about committing suicide and she thought he might be armed. Fiore said Monday afternoon he believed Kiley was a school principal. WHEC reports Kiley worked in the Bradford Central School District.
The shooting near SUNY Corning Community College drew a large police presence throughout the morning.
A procession of dozens of state police cars with lights flashing followed the coroner's vehicle on Route 17 carrying the body of the fallen trooper to Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton.
This marks the second time a New York state trooper was killed responding to a domestic call in just under a year. Trooper Joel Davis, 36, was fatally shot July 9, 2017, in northern New York by an Army soldier as he responded to reports of gunfire at the soldier's home near Fort Drum. The soldier also killed his wife and wounded another woman before surrendering to troopers.
Davis had been the first New York trooper fatally shot in the line of duty in 10 years.
In April 2007, Trooper David Brinkerhoff was accidentally shot and killed by another officer during an intense gunbattle in Margaretville with a suspect who had shot and wounded another trooper.
In September 2006, Trooper Joseph Longobardo was fatally shot in an ambush by an escaped convict in Chautauqua County. That same year, Trooper Andrew Sperr was shot and killed in March in Big Flats when he stopped the vehicle of two suspects who had just robbed a bank.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
