Witnesses in Breitkopf case react to report

Two key witnesses in the fatal shootings last year of a troubled Massapequa man and an elite Nassau police officer were visibly upset as they reacted Tuesday to the long-awaited report about the case.

David DiGeronimo tried to hold back tears as he spoke of the night of March 12, 2011, when officers shot his son in their home despite DiGeronimo's pleas.

And Theresa Kelly of Massapequa Park, who dialed 911 when DiGeronimo's son pounded on her front windshield with his knives as she sat in her car a block away that night, said neither man had to die.

DiGeronimo said he was not surprised by the findings of Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice's 18-page report into the shootings of his son, Anthony, 21, and Officer Geoffrey J. Breitkopf, 40. He said he didn't expect to receive "justice."

"Justice, criminal justice? No," he said outside his home. "The truth will come out. I cry every day."

The report said Anthony DiGeronimo was shot dead after he charged at officers while holding knives.

Breitkopf, a member of the Bureau of Special Operations, was shot by an MTA officer.

"Did I think two people would end up dead?" Kelly, now 72, asked aloud. "No. . . . I feel bad for them." She recalled a night of confusion. "I heard the shots," she said. "I heard the father begging for his son's life on the lawn: 'Please don't shoot my son. Please don't shoot my son. You don't understand.' "