National organization pays slain officer’s mortgage

Local groups reaching out to support families of DeMonte, Hamzy

Local and national organizations have responded with an outpouring of donations for the families of slain Bristol officers Dustin DeMonte and Alex Hamzy.

Sgt. DeMonte, 35, and Officer Hamzy, 34, were shot and killed Wednesday night during an apparent ambush after responding to a call for a possible domestic violence situation in Bristol.

The Bristol Police Benevolent Association, Bristol Police Commissioners and Bristol Police Union set up two fundraising campaigns to benefit the DeMonte and Hamzy families. Additionally, the national nonprofit Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced Friday evening that it will pay off the mortgage on DeMonte’s home.

Hours after its start Saturday, the fundraiser by the Bristol PBA had already amassed $21,000 in donations.

In response to the tragedy, the Bristol Police Commissioners and Bristol Police Union started the Bristol Police Heroes Fund to “aid and assist families in an event that tragedies like this occur during active duty.”

Donations to the fund can be made through a secure collection box at the Bristol Police Department, any Thomaston Savings Bank branch or online.

Tunnel to Towers Chairman and CEO Frank Siller in a press release Friday said the foundation’s donation will ensure that DeMonte’s pregnant wife and two young children can remain in their home.

“These cowardly acts of violence targeting our first responders have to stop,” Siller said. “Instead of preparing to celebrate the birth of their third child, the DeMonte family is now facing a future without their husband and father. Two children will grow up with only memories, while their youngest sibling was robbed of the opportunity to be held by their dad.

“I spoke with the family today and assured them they will be able to stay in the home where they have made so many memories.”

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is a national organization based out of Staten Island, New York. The foundation honors the memory of New York City Firefighter Stephen Siller, who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and ultimately died saving victims of the terrorist attacks.

“The Tunnel to Towers Fallen First Responder Home Program pays off mortgages for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty and leave behind young children,” the press release said. “For more than 20 years the Foundation has supported our nation’s first responders, veterans and their families by providing these heroes and the families they leave behind with mortgage-free homes.”