An off-duty rookie NYPD officer involved in a fatal on-duty shooting last year committed suicide in his Staten Island home early Thursday, police said.
The 22-year-old cop — identified by sources as Colin Rossiter — suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head around 1:50 a.m. inside a home in the Woodrow neighborhood, cops said.
A gun was discovered next to him.
Rossiter was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The young cop — who was discovered by his father, a retired NYPD sergeant — was appointed to the department in October 2021 and worked midnight shifts, police sources said.
His father told investigators that his son seemed to be just fine before he went into his bedroom — until he heard a gunshot and ran into the room to find him mortally wounded.
The dead officer worked in the 60th Precinct, which covers Coney Island, Brighton Beach, West Brighton Beach, and Sea Gate, the sources said.
No one answered the door at his Staten Island home on Thursday.
“This kid is well known and loved,” a neighbor — one of several NYPD officers who lives on the same block, told The Post.
He described the area as “a civil service neighborhood,” referring to the number of cops and firefighters who live there.
“They’re a wonderful family,” another neighbor said of the cop’s kin.
Rossiter’s college fraternity, Kappa Sigma Rho-Sigma, posted a shout-out to him on Facebook on Thursday.
“Rest in Peace to brother Colin Rossiter,” the frat posted. “You will forever hold a place in our hearts, not only as a brother but as a friend. Fly high.”
With just over a year on the job, Rossiter was one of the officers who shot domestic violence suspect Jermaine Hickson, 42, in Coney Island in November 2022, cops said.
Hickson fired off multiple rounds at cops before he was shot dead in a scene captured on startling video footage.
The incident is still under investigation by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, according to sources, who said there was nothing to suggest wrongdoing on the part of the officers.
“After the shooting, I reached out to the officers who were involved, because I just know that after an encounter like that, of good people, you know what officers can go through,” Mayor Eric Adams, a former cop, said Thursday.
“These are young children, you know? Twenty-one, 22 years old,” he said. “And when I communicated with them I just told them, ‘You’re protecting New Yorkers,’ and I was hoping to ease the stress.
“It just really broke my heart that we lost this young man,” he said of Rossiter’s suicide.
The young cop’s suicide is the third among NYPD officers so far this year.
NYPD cop Steven Hernandez, who joined the force in 2017, jumped to his death from the roof of a Queens building on Jan. 10. Hernandez, a 30-year-old father of two, was found shortly before 12:30 p.m. after leaping from the LeFrak City Apartments in Elmhurst after sources said he left an appointment with a psychiatrist.
Hernandez had posted a series of troubling messages on social media in November 2022, including pleas to “help me, please love me.”
Ten days later, another off-duty cop shot himself in his care near Brookville Park in Queens, authorities said. Jaswansingh Narain, 53, who was assigned to the 28th Precinct, was found at 232nd Street and Lansing Avenue.
Last month, a 22-year-old Bronx rookie was shot inside his Edenwald stationhouse in what officials said was an attempted suicide.
The cop, who was not identified, was found in the locker room at the 47th Precinct stationhouse and rushed to Jacobi Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Adams in May 2022 appointed his close pal Lisa White as the NYPD’s commissioner of employee relations, charged with overseeing cops’ morale and mental health.
One police source told The Post that the department’s Early Intervention Unit falls short of helping cops struggling with mental health issues because it is run by other officers, not mental health professionals.
“You need civilian professionals to do that job, not some hobo who took an eight-hour class while he’s on his phone,” the cop said.
He said the stress of the job is also forcing more and more of New York’s Finest to leave the force early — in some cases for lower-paying jobs.
“We are having problems keeping and hiring cops, then changing the atmosphere,” he said. “More money. Less BS.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy, Jack Morphet and Bernadette Hogan
