Sandy Hook massacre first responder dies due to COVID-19
Retired Trooper Patrick Dragon (Photos: Connecticut State Police)
HARTFORD, Conn. - A retired Connecticut state trooper, who was one of the first to respond to the Sandy Hook massacre back in 2012, has died due to COVID-19, authorities said.
Connecticut State Police said retired Trooper First Class Patrick Dragon died Saturday at a Hartford hospital.
Dragon entered the police training academy in 1998, and was a first responder at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown during the mass shooting that killed 20 young children and six adults.
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Dragon worked for the state police agency until his retirement in 2018. He then took a position as a police dispatcher in Foster, Rhode Island.
Foster police Chief David J. Breit confirmed that Dragon died after battling COVID-19.
"The Foster Police Department has lost one of its own," Breit wrote on Facebook. "Patrick, who was a retired Connecticut State Trooper and Deputy Chief of the East Brooklyn, CT. Fire Department, was a great person, kind, caring and a friend to all who met him."
Dragon died at the age of 50, WCVB reports.