Holly MatkinNew York, NY – Retired New York Police Department (NYPD) Officer Derrick Bishop died in the line of duty on Sept. 19, following a battle with cancer that developed after his service at the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sep. 11, 2001.
Officer Bishop, 60, had been diagnosed with prostate and thyroid cancer, his sister, Jeaneen Bishop, told the New York Daily News.
Jeaneen, who now works as a police aide with the Irvington Police Department in New Jersey, said that her brother was the first member of their family to serve as a law enforcement officer.
“He’s the oldest brother in the family,” she told the New York Daily News. “He initiated it all. We’re very proud.”
Officer Bishop served in the NYPD’s 71st Precinct, and devoted 21 years of his life to the department, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
“It was a great, great loss,” Jeaneen said of her brother’s death, according to the New York Daily News.
After retiring in 2003, Officer Bishop later took a job as a security guard at a bottling facility in East New York, the New York Post reported.
As he was working his midnight security detail in the predawn hours one night in 2014, he was confronted by an armed carjacker.
“I looked at him, and I see his hands and see he has a 9mm pointed at my face,” the retired officer told the New York Post at the time. “Then he told me he’s going to blow my brains out, he would shoot me in the face if I didn’t hand him my money.”
Officer Bishop handed over his valuables, but the carjacker persisted.
“He kept saying, ‘That’s all the –k you got? I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna shoot you,’” he told the news outlet.
Officer Bishop ultimately drew his own weapon, and shot his attacker four times in the neck and chest.
The suspect later died at Brookdale Hospital.
“It’s not a good feeling to shoot anybody,” Officer Bishop later told the New York Daily News, with tears streaming down his face. “It was just something that happened. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to be able to see my kids and my wife.”
Jeaneen said the grief her brother experienced in the wake of the shooting was heartbreaking, the New York Daily News reported.
In addition to his sister, Officer Bishop leaves behind his wife, Patricia, and his daughters, Chanel and Dominique, as well as his mother and brother.
His funeral was held in Brooklyn on Sept. 26, according to the New York Daily News.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of New York Police Department Officer Derrick Bishop, both blood and blue. Thank you for your service.
Rest easy, hero. We’ll hold the line from here.