Barry Williams for New York Daily News A devastated Pei Xia Chen spoke about her husband, NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu, on Monday in Brooklyn.
Barry Williams/for New York Daily News Pei Xia Chen breaks down while talking about her husband.
Barry Williams/for New York Daily News Pei Xia Chen married NYPD cop Wenjian Liu in September. He was killed Saturday.
Barry Williams/for New York Daily News Cops joined Pei Xia Chen on Monday as she spoke about her husband, Officer Wenjian Liu.
Mark Lennihan/AP Photos of the NYPD Officers Weinjen Liu (left) and Rafael Ramos are displayed at the Bed-Stuy memorial near where they were killed Saturday.
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Slain Police Officer Wenjian Liu believed in leading a life of service — and his dedication was evident on the day he was killed: He volunteered to work a fill-in shift when a fellow officer was late.
Liu, 32, took the assignment after the cop who was tardy called a desk sergeant at the NYPD’s 84th Precinct in downtown Brooklyn and bosses put out a request for a replacement, police sources said.
“He wasn’t supposed to be there,” a cop source said.
Liu’s selfless act meant that he died alongside Officer Rafael Ramos when a crazed gunman opened fire on their patrol car in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Saturday, executing the pair simply because they were cops.
“This is a difficult time for both of our families,” Liu’s devastated widow, Pei Xia Chen, told reporters in brief remarks Monday during which she expressed her condolences to Ramos’ widow and children. “But we will stand together and get through this together.”
She broke down in tears while she spoke outside her Gravesend, Brooklyn, home.
The cop Liu replaced Saturday — who was normally paired with Ramos — was wracked by feelings of guilt, police sources said.
“The kid is very, very distraught,” a police source said. “He’s beside himself. It’s very, very hard for him.”
Liu hailed from Guangzhou, China, and came to New York with his family to seek the American Dream, his family said in a statement. He was killed nearly 20 years to the day of his arrival in America — Christmas Eve 1994.
“He was a dedicated public servant who committed his life to helping others, and we will deeply miss him,” the family’s statement added.
It noted that Liu had married Chen in September.
“He was looking forward to having his own family,” it said.
The family’s statement thanked the emergency responders and medical staff at Woodhull Hospital who tried to save the mortally wounded officers. It thanked Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio “for their condolences and their support.”
The block in Brooklyn where the officers were slain, across from the Tompkins Houses, continued on Monday to attract elected officials, fellow cops and ordinary New Yorkers who came to show their respect.
The daughter of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man killed in an NYPD chokehold in July, placed a candle at the site — and said she was touched by the heartrending message Ramos’ son posted online after his father’s murder.
“It hit my heart,” Emerald Snipes, 22, said as she visited the tragic spot near the intersection of Tompkins and Myrtle Aves.
Jaden Ramos, 13, had written on Facebook the night his dad was killed: “Today I had to say bye to my father. It’s horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. . . . I will always love you and never forget you.”
Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News Emerald Snipes speaks to the media near the Bedford-Stuyvesant memorial Monday.
Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News Emerald Snipes said she was moved by the words ofJaden Ramos, the son of slain NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos.
Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News Eric Garner’s youngest daughter, Emerald Snipes (in black coat, holding blue candle) visits the Brooklyn memorial of the two NYPD officers killed Saturday.
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Snipes said she could relate.
“I know how it feels in this season to not have your father around,” she said.
The lunatic who killed the two cops was seeking revenge for Garner and Michael Brown, the unarmed black teen shot to death by a cop in Ferguson, Mo.
Ramos, 40, a father of two who joined the force in 2012, was a devoted church member who was about to become a chaplain.
His funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Christ Tabernacle Church in Glendale, Queens.
Well-wishers, including Mayor de Blasio, streamed to the family residence in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. In a heartfelt gesture, firefighters from Ladder 175 invited Jaden and other children who were in the home to play with the truck’s siren and horn.
Gov. Cuomo, who has visited the families of both cops, said the Liu family is distraught by the terrible loss and concerned about their financial future. “From the practical side, how are they gonna pay for the mortgage?” Cuomo said. “His mother is having some medical treatment; her son is paying for it — who is gonna pay that now?”
U.S. Attorney General Eric holder instructed the Justice Department to work with the Ramos and Liu families to expedite their application for federal benefits available to survivors of fallen officers, officials said.
Liu graduated from Lafayette High School in Brooklyn and attended Kingsborough Community College and the College of Staten Island, where he majored in accounting. He began to serve the community as an auxiliary cop for the 72nd Precinct in Brooklyn. He graduated from the Police Academy in December 2007.
“He was an asset to the Police Department, using his Chinese language skills whenever and wherever it was needed,” his family’s statement read.
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With NATALIE FERTIG, Dan Friedman, Evie Liu, Caitlin Nolan
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