Heartbroken neighbors of a 33-year-old NYPD rookie officer killed in a heatwave at a Bronx shooting range said they were still reeling from losing a “good guy” just days before he was due to join the NYPD’s rookie ranks.
“I’m devastated,” neighbor Susan Delvalle said of slain rookie officer Edgar Ordoñez. “I was so proud of him when he said he was going to be a police officer. I was rooting for him.”
“He was a polite, loving, friendly, very respectful person,” Del Valle said. “He was a quiet person. [graduation] “Look what happened that day.”
Ordonez, who was set to graduate and join the police force on Monday, collapsed from apparent heat stroke while training at a police shooting range in Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx just before 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, police and officials said.
An ambulance was called to the scene at about 11:25 a.m., and Ordonez arrived at Jacobi Medical Center about 30 minutes later, where he was pronounced dead, according to sources.
Police officers stood in a row and observed a moment of silence as his body was taken to a waiting ambulance.
Authorities have not released an official cause of death, but Ordoñez died amid extreme heat across the five boroughs, with the heat index reaching nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday.
NYPD trainees are often forced to wear heavy gear, including helmets, long pants and heavy boots, regardless of the weather, according to sources, which are part of the rigors of joining the Big Apple police force.
“I think it was too hot to go outside,” a neighbor of Ordoñez’s who gave his name as Mr. So told The Post. “The heat is horrible. I feel sad.”
“I believe he would have been a good cop,” he added. “He would have gotten the bad guys off the streets and served the community.”
Del Valle recalled seeing Ordoñez leaving a building in the South Bronx just two days before his death.
“He said to me, ‘My day is approaching!’ I stood up and hugged him and he hugged me back,” she said. “I told him, ‘I’m so proud of you,’ and he said, ‘Thank you for being proud of me.'”
