NYPD precinct commander 'shoots himself in his police vehicle' as fellow officers mounted desperate hunt to locate him

 An NYPD precinct commander shot himself to death in Queens inside his police vehicle Monday, sources said.

Deputy Inspector Denis Mullaney, who commanded the Queens 107th precinct, had called another precinct official to say he was thinking about killing himself, a source told DailyMail.com.

The official immediately called the NYPD's Technical Assistance Response Unit to try and locate Mullaney by the position of his phone. 

But by the time they managed to locate him, he had pulled the trigger, the source said.

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Deputy Inspector Denis Mullaney reportedly shot himself to death in Queens inside his police vehicle Monday, sources said

Mullaney, 44, was found dead by officers in his police vehicle across from Kissena park in Queens just after 5.10 p.m, police sources told the New York Daily News. 

He was rushed to the New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Mullaney joined the NYPD in 2000 and was appointed as the commanding officer of the 107th Precinct in September last year.

After acquiring the position, Mullaney told The Queens Chronicle of the importance of neighborhood communication and urged local residents to call the police if they need them.

'Whether it's a robbery of the purse or someone smoking weed, just call us and we'll address it,' he said. 

'Our main goal is to have everyone living in this precinct to go outside, walk around and not be scared and not be a victim of crimes. Our goal is to make sure that their safety is paramount.'

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Mullaney (left) on his first day as commanding officer of the NYPD Transit District 20 in 2015

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Mullaney, who commanded the Queens 107th precinct, had called another precinct official to say he was thinking about killing himself, a source told DailyMail.com (file photo)

Mallaney had previously worked as the commanding officer of the NYPD Transit District 20 for four years.

He is believed to the first active-duty police officer to kill themselves this year after a rise in police suicides over 2019 and 2020.

An NYPD transit cop, who was not identified, committed suicide inside a Midtown police station in March 2020 using another officer's gun to shoot herself after her own service weapon was taken away from her by the department. 

A month earlier, NYPD detective Paul Federico, 53, committed suicide at his mother's home in Queens after being stripped of his gun.

In 2019, 10 NYPD officers took their own lives, prompting the department to launch a new suicide prevention program.

There were at least 228 officer suicides nationally in 2019 alone, according to Massachusetts-based nonprofit Blue H.E.L.P.