Aunt: NYPD cop who shot nephew was a childhood friend of victim

The aunt of a Massapequa man who, police said, was fatally shot in the head by an off-duty NYPD cop in Farmingdale Tuesday said the victim's family is “destroyed" and that the gunman had been his close friend since elementary school.

“It kills me, not only because he’s a cop. But it kills me because it’s his best friend. And he shot him, he killed him, and he left the scene,” said Elisa Maiorino, aunt of Christopher Curro, 25, of Massapequa, who Nassau police identified Thursday as the shooting victim.

No charges have been filed in the case. A Nassau police spokesman declined comment Thursday night, deferring to the state attorney general's office, which is also investigating.

Maiorino,  of the Bronx, who said she is Curro’s paternal aunt, said Curro worked as a pizza deliveryman and he and the NYPD officer, identified by a department spokesman Thursday night as Errick Allen, were best friends since they were 5 or 6 years old.

The two lifelong pals graduated from Farmingdale High School together, Maiorino said. “I know my brother is destroyed. My sister, too,” Curro said. “No parent should bury their own child."

An NYPD spokesman said Thursday Allen works in the 109th Precinct in Queens.

Allen was hired by the NYPD in 2019, officials said. He was suspended without pay for 30 days following the shooting, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said in an interview Wednesday. 

Officials said Curro was killed in front of a Farmingdale house on Tuesday evening, police said.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said Wednesday: "There was an altercation between two gentlemen...During that struggle, a weapon was produced and the victim was shot and killed. The person that was involved in that struggle, fighting also with that other individual, was a New York City police officer."

Maiorino said: “Christopher was a sweet and loving guy. My nephew is gone. I really want justice to be brought for Christopher. They have to do what is right.”

With Nicole Fuller