Dad: Police should not have killed my son

The knife-wielding man whose bizarre actions led to the accidental killing of a Nassau police officer should not have been fatally shot, his father said Tuesday.

Even as the Nassau County Police Department tries to piece together details of a confusing incident, in which a police officer shot another officer, the grieving father said that his son could have been stopped another way.

"A bullet to the leg. Something, anything except killing the little boy in front of me when I asked them not to," said David DiGeronimo, whose son triggered a flurry of police activity in Massapequa Park after scaring an elderly neighbor Saturday night.

Nassau police spokesman Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said that officers were responding as they were trained to do in a dangerous situation where a suspect was "rushing at them with a raised knife."

Anthony DiGeronimo, 21, a self-professed worshiper of Satan, was killed inside his family's Fourth Avenue home. He had barricaded himself in a bedroom when police pursued him for scaring 71-year-old neighbor Theresa Kelly with what she said looked "like a hunting knife."

When he pulled the weapon on officers, he was shot by two police officers. But that was not the end of the incident.

Geoffrey J. Breitkopf, 40, a member of the department's Bureau of Special Operations among police personnel at the scene, was shot shortly afterward by a responding officer from the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Breitkopf, too, died from his injury that night.

Police believe that someone yelled "gun," prompting MTA officer Glenn Gentile to draw his weapon and fire at Breitkopf -- dressed in plain clothes and carrying a rifle.

The investigation into that shooting is ongoing as homicide detectives speak to more than a dozen officers at the scene.

Police union officials said Tuesday that it remained unclear whether Breitkopf was wearing a visible badge when the second shooting occurred. Wearing a badge and donning a police insignia jacket or bulletproof vest are considered best practices but are not required.

Nassau police are investigating whether a retired New York City officer, identified by the Nassau Police Benevolent Association Tuesday as John B. Cafarella, 58, shouted that someone had a gun.

It's not clear either what triggered DiGeronimo's behavior. After initially barricading himself, he emerged and confronted police with the knife, police said.

But David DiGeronimo criticized police for not finding another way to subdue his son.

Asked if police should have considered using a stun gun instead of live bullets, DiGeronimo said yes. "If he has to be arrested, we'll deal with that, but to empty . . . guns into him -- no reason for that," he said. "If I have a knife and you have a gun, you shoot me in the leg. If I have a gun, that's different."

Smith said the two officers used "remarkable restraint" as they "were menaced by this young man, and at one point thought they would have to fire but held back."

Smith said a stun gun, which only emergency service officers carry, or rubber bullets might not have stopped DiGeronimo.

"Officers aren't taught to shoot to kill. They are taught to shoot to stop, and the way to learn to do that is shoot for the center of the mass, and that's the center of the torso," he said.

DiGeronimo said his son was a sensitive, helpful young man who did not drink or do drugs and helped neighbors and the elderly. He added: "Did he get involved with something on the computer? It's possible."

With Matthew Chayes, Bart Jones and Andrew Strickler