Editor’s Note: This story appeared in Friday’s online version of the New York Daily News. We reprint here.
The overwrought widow of murdered NYPD officer Wenjian Liu offered her teary thanks Friday after a charity confirmed its commitment to pay off the newlywed’s mortgage.
Pei Xia Chen, who married Liu just three months before his execution last Saturday, stood crying and hugging her relatives during a Staten Island news conference.
“When you see somebody in despair, you bring them some joy,” said Frank Siller, chairman of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. “When you see somebody that is in darkness, you bring them light. And I know that us as a community and I know that our foundation is going to be there for them.”
The foundation, launched in memory of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller after 9/11, intends to cover the combined $800,000 payments on the homes of Liu and fellow Officer Rafael Ramos.
The two cops were gunned down in a cold-blooded execution last weekend in Brooklyn.