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Charity seeks to pay off slain Weymouth officer's mortgage

The Patriot Ledger - 7/19/2018

July 19--WEYMOUTH -- Although he appreciates people trying to offer words of comfort, Weymouth police Capt. Joseph Comperchio said things aren't going to be OK for his family following the shooting death of his brother-in-law Sgt. Michael Chesna.

But Comperchio said he feels grateful knowing Chesna's widow, Cindy, and two young children will get help from an organization working to pay off the mortgage on the family's Hanover home.

"Mike was a great parent. He was humble, he was kind and he loved his family," Comperchio said Wednesday, surrounded by his fellow police officers. "Cindy is going to need a lot of support over the next few years, especially with Olivia and Jack."

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation says it will pay $100,000 toward the mortgage, and it is challenging the public to raise the rest in support of Chesna, a U.S. Army veteran who was posthumously promoted to sergeant after he was shot and killed in the line of duty Sunday.

The organization, named after a New York City firefighter killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks, announced the gift in a press conference at the Weymouth police station Wednesday.

Chesna's widow attended the announcement, marking her first public appearance since her husband's death. Wearing her husband's military tags, Cindy Chesna sat surrounded by family members who consoled her, including her in-laws, Chuckie and Maryann Chesna, and brother-in-law Eric Chesna.

Cindy Chesna sobbed as she joined Pei Xia Chen, the widow of a New York City detective killed in 2014, and Tunnel to Towers chairman and CEO Frank Siller in placing a wreath at a memorial on the lawn in front of the police station.

Frank Siller said his brother had just gotten off duty on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when he heard on his scanner that the World Trade Center towers had been hit.

Siller, a father of five, raced through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel on foot and to the towers, where he died.

Frank Siller said survivors of first responders killed in the line of duty often stress about how they're going to afford their homes.

"Let us all make a promise here today that when one of our first responders kisses their wife goodbye or kisses their kids goodbye, whether they're a police officer, firefighter or military, and they die in the line of duty, that we at the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and we the Weymouth community, that we and all Americans are going to take care of their families," he said.

Chesna was one of two people who police say were shot and killed Sunday by Emanuel Lopes, a 20-year-old Weymouth High School graduate with a history of drug use and arrests. Prosecutors say Lopes took Chesna's gun after hitting him in the head with a rock, shot the officer and later shot an elderly bystander, Vera Adams, through a window.

Police Chief Richard Grimes said he was skeptical at first when he heard that a group wanted to help Cindy Chesna pay off her family's mortgage, but soon learned that Siller and his organization are genuine. He said the support from the Tunnel to Towers Foundation means a lot to the members of the department.

"The Weymouth Police Department is blessed with an extremely strong, outstanding group of men and women who look out for one another as well as their community," he said. "Through their strength, we will get through this and we will continue to do Michael's work, because I believe the good of people will always triumph the evil that slithers among us."

Grimes then read an essay Chesna wrote before entering the police academy six years ago, shedding some light on the kind of person he was in his own words.

"Ever since I was about 5 years old I've wanted to be a police officer. At that time, I thought it would be a fun job. As I got older, I realized all the great work the police do in their community and how they help so many," Chesna wrote. "I have always felt that I had a responsibility to give back to my community and country, and felt that being a police officer was the best way for me to do so. So many people go through life only thinking of themselves and I was determined not to be one of them."

The Siller Foundation, which is best known for its annual charity road race in New York City, says it has made $7 million in mortgage payments to support the families of first responders killed in the line of duty.

To make a donation toward paying off the Chesna family's mortgage, visit tunnel2towers.org or call 718-987-1931.

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