Police provided additional details Monday afternoon from an armed ambush in Salina that resulted in the first line-of-duty deaths of a Syracuse police officer in 34 years, and a Onondaga County sheriff deputy in 21 years.

Syracuse Police officer Michael Jensen and Onondaga County Sheriff Lt. Michael Hoosock were the members of law enforcement killed in a shooting Sunday night while trying to apprehend a suspect at a home on Darien Drive in the town of Salina, Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile and county Sheriff Toby Shelley said during a news conference Monday afternoon. 

The deadly incident started around 7:07 p.m. Monday, when city police officers attempted to stop a suspicious vehicle that had been traveling more than 100 mph, according to Cecile, but the driver sped away. They and sheriff deputies tracked the plates to a home on Darien Drive in Salina. While they were outside of the home, a man came out and opened fire, officials said.

The suspect — identified by Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick as Christopher R. Murphy, 33, of Salina — was also shot and killed. Police took one man, described as Murphy's friend, into custody for questioning, but he has not been charged, police said. 

(Spectrum News 1)

Both the Syracuse officer and the sheriff's deputy were struck. Both were rushed to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse where they died from their injuries, Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile confirmed Monday.

Hoosock, a father of three kids ages 3, 5 and 7, joined the staff in 2007 and was promoted to lieutenant last year, Shelley said. A former watch and bomb squad commander who was described as a pillar of the community, Hoosock had received multiple awards, including a medal for valor in 2020 for helping to apprehend a person who had shot two people, the sheriff said.

Jensen, who became a city police officer just more than two years ago and lived in Syracuse, was shot in front of the home after Murphy shot Hoosock, who had staked out a position behind a tree in a neighbor's rear yard, police said.

"We lost two heroes last night," Cecile said. “We will get through it as we always have – as a family. Because that’s what law enforcement is – a family.”

Neighbors in the area reported hearing heavy gunfire.

"Right now, our community is in shock, and we’re in pain," Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said.

Sunday's shooting is the first line-of-duty death in the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department since 2003 when Deputy Glenn Searles died after being hit by a mini-van on Interstate 481 in DeWitt where he had stopped to help a stranded motorist.

The list line-of-duty death in the Syracuse Police Department was Wallie Howard, Jr., who was shot and killed in 1990 while working undercover.

Gov. Kathy Hochul commented on the deaths on social media Monday morning.

The investigation is ongoing.