Police shoot NB fire captain dead
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John "Butchy" DiTursi, 58, was shot three times just after 11 p.m. Monday in the hallway of the Park River Towers on Boulevard East. He died about a half hour later at Palisades General Hospital.
According to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, DiTursi had stepped out onto the balcony of his apartment, holding the .30-06 hunting rifle complete with a high-powered scope. Inside the apartment, DiTursi also apparently had two 12-guage shotguns and over 100 rounds of ammunition. He apparently fired one shot inside the apartment during a five-hour standoff, according to DeFazio.
The shooting led to some speculation between neighbors and friends about whether DiTursi had to be shot. Several of DiTursi's best friends and family members were on the scene, imploring the distraught DiTursi to put down the weapon and come out, but the pleas obviously fell on deaf ears.
"There was some conversation, with his friends continuing to talk to him, but it was not constructive," DeFazio said. "The friends tried to establish a rapport, but it was clear than the man was not acting rationally."
But DeFazio justified the shooting.
"From our preliminary reports, we believe the action taken was reasonable and prudent," DeFazio said. "The man was clearly acting out. He was under the influence [of alcohol] and it appeared that he was not concerned with his or anyone's personal safety. It was an extremely intense and volatile situation."
DeFazio said that DiTursi, who retired from the old North Bergen Fire Department in 1997 after being severely injured fighting a fire, stepped outside the apartment into the hallway and pointed the rifle toward police officers who were in the hallway.
One of the officers outside was North Bergen Police Sgt. Carmine Pellechio, Jr., whose father, Carmine, was a close childhood friend of DiTursi. Another was Police Officer John Martin, whose father worked with DiTursi at the old North Bergen Fire Department.
Apparently, those were the only two police officers DiTursi would talk to while he was barricaded inside his apartment.
Pellechio was one of two officers who fired the fatal shots. The other was Union City Special Tactical Officer Archer Cuellar, who was called to assist in special tactics and weapons cases.
According to DeFazio, the standoff began around 6 p.m. Monday night when DiTursi returned home, apparently intoxicated, and became engaged in a heated argument with his wife, Joan. The argument then apparently became violent, with DiTursi breaking several items inside the apartment and throwing items out of the fourth-floor balcony window, including a potted plant.
Joan DiTursi, who fled the scene, was the first person to call 911 for police assistance. DeFazio said that the police dispatcher also received a 911 call from DiTursi's brother. A neighbor tried to calm DiTursi down, but DiTursi apparently told the neighbor, "It's all right. I'm just having a fight with my wife."
Weapons
DiTursi was left in the apartment with the weapons. According to DeFazio, the three guns in DiTursi's possession were legally owned.
Soon after, calls went out to several of DiTursi's closest friends, firefighting colleagues and family members, who arrived at the scene and begged DiTursi to give up the weapons and come out safely. But DiTursi refused.
"His friends and family were trying desperately to do something," DeFazio said. "He wouldn't budge."
DeFazio said that most of the dialogue DiTursi had with the police officers was "unintelligible."
During the course of the standoff, DiTursi emerged from the apartment several times onto the balcony, holding the rifle.
"Once he stepped onto the balcony, holding the rifle, it was a very dangerous situation," DeFazio said. "Although he never assumed a shooting position, he could have pointed that high-powered rifle down to the waterfront toward River Road and shot at innocent victims. The police have to protect the general public. That's their primary obligation, even though they want to show some restraint. It was a very uncomfortable situation all the way around."
DeFazio said that the rifle was loaded and that he was armed with extra ammunition.
"The rifle had one bullet in the chamber and four in the magazine, and he had two full magazines in his pants pockets," DeFazio said.
DiTursi would then walk back into the apartment, where the police officers in the hallway tried to reason with him. There were several phone calls made to the apartment by friends and family, but DiTursi stopped answering the phone.
After police tried desperately to have the incident come to a peaceful ending, DiTursi suddenly stepped outside the apartment at 11 p.m. and according to DeFazio, pointed the hunting rifle at the officers outside the door.
"He didn't say he was going to come out," DeFazio said. "It was a relatively sudden sequence of events. He opened the door, leveled the gun and was shot."
DiTursi was hit twice in the lower torso and once in the leg. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:33 p.m.
Football standout
People who knew DiTursi recalled a caring and loving man, a former football standout at North Bergen High School who earned All-County recognition as a defensive back in the 1960s, even though DiTursi stood 5-foot-4 and weighed 130 pounds.
"I first got to know him from his playing days at North Bergen and I was coaching at Hoboken," said Vince Ascolese, the long-time North Bergen football coach and assistant superintendent of schools who knew DiTursi well. "I was amazed that his size, he was able to hit people so hard. He was a tough little football player. I would see him from time to time and he would talk about those days. I always liked to talk to him. It was always good conversation. He was a likeable person."
Ascolese said that after DiTursi suffered the injuries in a February 1996 fire on 10th and Tonnelle Avenues that ended his firefighting career, he suffered from migraine headaches. Ascolese's wife, Pat, helped find someone to alleviate the headaches.
"He was always grateful for that and held my wife in a special place in his heart," Ascolese said.
DiTursi served on the North Bergen Fire Department for 20 years. He joined the department in 1977 and was promoted to captain in 1991.
While fighting that fire in 1996, he was thrown from a second-story window and landed on the concrete below, causing serious injuries to his legs and back. He retired on a disability pension less than a year later.
North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue Co-Director Mike DeOrio was one of DiTursi's closest friends, going back to their childhood days growing up on 67th Street in North Bergen. Although DiTursi retired before the NHRFR was instituted in 1999, DeOrio recalled his friend as a "dedicated and devoted firefighter who worked his way through the ranks to become a captain."
"I'm just one among many close and personal friends," said DeOrio, who was one of those on the scene pleading with DiTursi to end the standoff. "Butch was a close friend, a compassionate individual. He was the first to wrap presents for the kids at Christmas. He was a coach in the North Bergen Pop Warner football league. He loved children and would do anything for children. He was a loving and sympathetic man."
DeOrio said that the friends and family of "Butchy" DiTursi are trying to cope with the tragedy.
"It's a very personal loss," DeOrio said. "Not only is it heartbreaking, but we're all trying to overcome it. It's not going to be easy."
Speculation
Although DeOrio wouldn't confirm it, another friend said that DiTursi was being treated for depression. No one knows whether that depression is what set off the erratic behavior that led to DiTursi's tragic death.
DeFazio refused to speculate whether DiTursi wanted to intentionally have the police fire upon him, as a way of committing suicide.
"It's been talked about, but we don't know for sure," DeFazio said. "He certainly had no concern for his personal safety. It's a sad situation, but the result was necessary. It was a necessary police action."
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