‘My men are my heroes’
Decisive action safeguards officers in armed
Byram Township standoff
When the situation with an armed
barricaded man turned threatening to Byram
Township law enforcement officers, Detective
Robert Tierney acted quickly.
It all happened in June 2015 when police
r
lo
a
V DS
AWAR
responded to a call of possible gun shots being
fired in the township’s Cranberry Lake section.
Officers arrived to find a man at his home with
a gun. He later stepped outside armed with a
handgun and a shotgun, and began to threaten police. Tierney was
talking with the man when Sergeant Guy Mariani, who was off-duty,
made it to the scene to serve as a negotiator.
“Time is the key – to extend the time because if you have ever
been angry about something, it’s hard to sustain that for a long
time,” Mariani explained. “So by trying to extend time using active
listening skills and de-escalation techniques, a lot of time you are
able to bring the suspect to the point where they are calmer.”
Mariani remembered Tierney’s conversation with the man being
about their common background as Marines.
“Tierney is trying to relate to him on that aspect. He became more
erratic (and) started pointing the firearm at officers and, at one
point, pointed the firearm at Officer (John) D’Onofrio and Detective
Tierney,” Mariani recalled.
The man tossed the unloaded handgun down and pointed the
shotgun at the officers, which prompted Tierney, recognizing an
immediate threat, to fire a single fatal shot, which hit the man in his
chest.
“We look back on it as an unfortunate incident for the suspect and
his family, but, at the same time, we matter too. We look back and
think about what we did right, what we did wrong, what we could
change for next time,” Mariani said. “If anybody can handle it in our
department, I think Detective Tierney would be one of the ones to
handle it the best just from his military and leadership experience.
But I’m sure he had some mixed feelings afterward.”
Tierney prefers to talk about how the small, but close, department
handled a difficult situation.
“My men are my heroes. For me, it’s just trying to help and do my
part,” Tierney said. “We’re a small department. We’re very tight knit,
all friends inside and outside the department. It’s a brotherhood the
way it should be.”
Tierney appreciated the fact both he and several other officers
were honored with the Silver Medal of Valor and Unit awards.
“I’ve very proud of the guys I work with; very happy we were recognized as a group, as a team, for what is a sad circumstance,” he
said. “I’m glad we all came out OK.”
In addition to Tierney, the following were given the Unit Citation:
D’Onofrio, Officer Todd Sodano, Officer Marcus Lisa, Mariani and
Lt. Peter Zabita. d
SILVER MEDAL OF VALOR
DETECTIVE ROBERT TIERNEY
SUSSEX COUNTY LOCAL 138
UNIT CITATION
LIEUTENANT PETER ZABITA
SERGEANT GUY MARIANI
DETECTIVE ROBERT TIERNEY
OFFICER JOHN D’ONOFRIO
OFFICER MARCUS LISA
OFFICER TODD SODANO
SUSSEX COUNTY LOCAL 138
46
NEW JERSEY COPS
■
DECEMBER 2015