By Karen Keller and Carly Rothman
Star-Ledger
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Where Marc DiNardo led, others followed.
It was true at Hudson Catholic High School, where as a teen he was voted “most popular” and “most unique.” And it was true at the Jersey City Police Department, where the 10-year veteran served in an elite emergency response unit.
DiNardo was in the lead last Thursday when a team of officers broke down the door of an apartment where two armed robbery suspects were waiting for them. One of the suspects opened fire, shooting DiNardo in the face and striking three others.
Yesterday, a day before his 38th birthday, the father of three died of his injuries at Jersey City Medical Center.
“Wherever he went, the room lit up. People were drawn to him,” said Tim Brennan, a former classmate at Hudson Catholic who is now the school’s spokesman. “We’re all devastated.”
Precincts citywide flew their flags at half staff yesterday and many were decorated with black and purple bunting in honor of DiNardo, the 38th city police officer to die in the line of duty.
“Det. DiNardo exemplified the bravery, professionalism and excellence that any police officer aspires to,” Chief Thomas Comey said in a statement on the department’s website. “As always our thoughts and prayers will be with the family of our fallen hero, as well as all others who serve.”
DiNardo was the most gravely injured of five officers shot Thursday in two exchanges with Hassan Shakur, 32. Shakur and his girlfriend, Amanda Anderson, 22, were killed in the apartment shootout, which followed gunfire on the street below. Three officers were treated and released, but officer Michael Camacho was shot in the neck and remains hospitalized in serious but guarded condition.
The 25-year-old was still at Jersey City Medical Center yesterday when a car chase roared past the hospital. The 3 a.m. chase and gunbattle ended a block from a precinct draped in bunting for DiNardo.
Authorities said three teenagers rammed four police cruisers and opened fire on officers twice yesterday morning during a chase that began after the trio allegedly robbed a pedestrian at gunpoint. No one was hit, but seven officers suffered minor injuries, Deputy Police Chief Peter Nalbach said.
The teens were arrested and charged. Nalbach, a 33-year police veteran, said he couldn’t remember a week when so many Jersey City officers have been hurt on the job. He said the latest assault came as the department mourned DiNardo.
“He was a bright young man, he loved the job,” Nalbach said. “We lost a brave young man.”
DiNardo was shot just blocks from his childhood home on Kensington Avenue, near Lincoln Park, and within a mile of the schools he attended: Joseph H. Brensinger Number 17 Elementary School, Hudson Catholic and St. Peter’s College.
“Mark was a neighborhood kid,” classmate Brennan said.
Yesterday, friends and colleagues remembered him as a warm-hearted man who laughed easily.
“He was a phenomenal dude,” said Jean Pierre Saitta, a friend and Jersey City firefighter. He recalled DiNardo coining his nickname, J.P., in their freshman year of high school, saying of Jean Pierre, “What kind of city name is that?”
But DiNardo took his work seriously. The son of a retired Jersey City police lieutenant, he joined the East District Patrol Division on St. Patrick’s Day 1999 after a stint as a civilian in the warrant department of the Hudson County sheriff’s office.
“Marc loved the Jersey City Police Department and city of Jersey City,” his family said in a statement read at a press conference by friend and fellow officer Melissa Bartholomew.
DiNardo earned seven excellent police service awards, two commendations and a World Trade Center award for his service, said Stan Eason, the city’s communications director. Two years ago, he joined the emergency services unit, which receives SWAT, scuba and bomb-technician training.
Other officers said DiNardo had deep compassion for all those he served, right down to a baby opossum trapped in a Dumpster near his office on Route 440.
“He was one of the kindest, most generous cops you’d want to work with,” officer Donald Hess said.
Yesterday DiNardo’s family upheld his commitment to serving people in need, donating several of his organs to those waiting for transplants, said Kristi Hynda of the NJ Sharing Network.
His heart, kidneys and lungs were among the organs donated, said Myra Burks-Davis, the agency’s assistant director of public relations.
“He was an everyday hero protecting the public, and now he’s a hero to many people, giving them the gift of life,” Hynda said.
DiNardo is survived by his wife Mary; children Gwendolyn, 4, Marc Anthony, 2, and Ella, 1; and his parents, Paul and Mary DiNardo.
A wake will be held tomorrow from 1 to 9 p.m. at the McLaughlin Funeral Home, 625 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City. A funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 p.m. Friday at St. Aeden’s Church on Bergen Avenue in Jersey City.
Donations in DiNardo’s name can be sent to a scholarship fund set up by the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association at P.O. Box 17395, Jersey City, N.J. 07307.
Copyright 2009 Star-Ledger