Mayor Bill de Blasio held a moment of silence Tuesday morning as he honored slain FDNY firefighter Christopher Slutman as an “American hero.”
Slutman, who was a staff sergeant in the US Marine Corps and a 15-year veteran of the FDNY, was among four killed Monday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
“Once again, a New Yorker serving in our military but also a member of our uniformed services giving of himself to protect others was lost yesterday tragically in Afghanistan,” de Blasio said. “Christopher Slutman is an American hero.”
The mayor pointed to Slutman’s award in 2014 of the Fire Chiefs Association Memorial Medal for saving a woman from a burning building in the Bronx.
“This unquestionably is an example of the measure of this man,” he said.
He added, “Our hearts go out to his wife Shannon and his three children and they will be in our thoughts and prayers today.”
De Blasio, who was speaking at a press conference in Williamsburg about the measles outbreak, ordered all flags across the city to be lowered to half-staff before bowing his head in a moment of silence.