A New York City police officer was shot and killed in a struggle early Sunday in the Bronx.

The NYPD identified the slain officer as 33-year-old Brian Mulkeen. Mulkeen was patrolling the streets around the Edenwald Houses as part of the Bronx Borough Anti-Crime Unit, which was in the area because of gang activity, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said at a press conference at Jacobi Medical Center.

Mulkeen and his partner tried to apprehend a man who had fled questioning, and a struggle on the ground ensued, Monahan said. He said Mulkeen can be heard yelling “he’s reaching for it, he’s reaching for it” on body camera video. Mulkeen was subsequently struck by three bullets.

Five officers fired at the 27-year-old man, who was struck and pronounced dead at the scene. A .32-caliber revolver that police say belonged to the man was recovered. He hasn’t been identified, but Monahan said the man was on probation until 2022 for a narcotics-related arrest last year and had several prior arrests, including a burglary conviction in Rockland County.

Mulkeen, who had served nearly seven years with the department and worked out of the 47th precinct, was taken to Jacobi, where he died. Mohanan said Mulkeen lived with his girlfriend, an NYPD police officer in the Bronx’s 44th precinct.

Flanked by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Monahan called the officer “brave,” and said he was “doing the job we asked him to do, a job that New Yorkers needed him to do.”

De Blasio called Mulkeen “a hero” and advised the public to give condolences to NYPD officers.

“We’ve been here too often. We know the directions to get here,” Pat Lynch, the president of New York City’s Police Benevolent Association, said at the press conference. “It has to stop.”

(AP)