Long Islanders are mourning two fallen police officers from Suffolk County who were killed in the line of duty hours apart last weekend.
Wake services began Wednesday in Selden for a Nassau County Police Officer Geoffrey Breitkopf, who was accidentally shot by an MTA officer in Massapequa Park on Saturday night, while services are scheduled for Thursday in East Islip for New York City Police Officer Alain Schaberger, who police said was killed by a suspect in Brooklyn early Sunday morning. Funerals for both men will be held Friday.
Viewing services for Breitkopf, 40, will be held Wednesday and Thursday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the headquarters of the Selden Fire Department, where he volunteered for 14 years. Police and fire services will be held at 8 p.m. Thursday. His funeral mass will be held 12:30 p.m. Friday at St. Margaret’s of Scotland in Selden followed by the burial at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Coram.
The firehouse is located at 44 Woodmere Pl., the church address is 81 College Rd. and the cemetery is located at 3442 Route 112.
The wake for Schaberger, 42, will be held 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Fredrick J. Chapey & Sons Funeral Home in East Islip. Funeral services will be held 9:30 a.m. Friday at the funeral home followed by the burial at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale.
The funeral home is located at 200 East Main St. and the address for the cemetery is 2040 Wellwood Ave.
Officials said Breitkopf, a 12-year veteran of the force assigned to the Bureau of Special Operations, was responding to a home where two Nassau cops had killed a knife-wielding man when someone yelled “gun” and the MTA cop mistook Breitkopf as a threat. He died shortly after being shot.
He leaves behind a wife, Paula and two children; Connor and Owen, ages 6 and 3.
Police said Schaberger, a 10-year veteran of the force assigned to the 84th Precinct who also served in the U.S. Navy, fell nine feet to his death after being pushed by a domestic violence suspect. The suspect, George Villanueva, was charged with first-degree murder.
Schaberger is survived by his fiance and her two children, with whom he lived in upstate Cortlandt Manor. He graduated from East Islip High School.
The Nassau County Police Benevolent Association set up memorial fund for Breitkopf’s two children. Donations can be made to The Geoffrey J. Breitkopf Memorial Fund, c/o Nassau County PBA, 89 East Jericho Tpke., Mineola.