Detectives go door-to-door near Aleger’s home on Glenwood Road. photos by Jared Feldschreiber Viewed by neighbors as a kind and churchgoing citizen of Canarsie, Francky Aleger, 39, who volunteered as an auxiliary police officer in Manhattan, and also worked as a porter at Mt. Sinai Hospital in East Harlem, became a victim of gun violence. Aleger was shot in the lower back, and killed near East 95th Street about 10 blocks from his home on East 84th Street and Glenwood Road. This tragedy occurred on the morning of April 4th at approximately 6 a.m. The police continue to investigate the shooting, which occurred near the Rockaway Parkway train station as Aleger was headed to work.

Authorities say paramedics who responded to the scene discovered a gunshot wound to Aleger’s back. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The circumstances surrounding the shooting are still unknown.

Aleger was not on duty at the time, but he was a volunteer auxiliary officer with the 13th Precinct near Gramercy Park in Manhattan. The 13th Precinct covers Murray Hill and the Flatiron District.

Family friend Nancy Belotte, 57, speaks to reporters after hearing of the tragic news. Aleger, a Haitian from Port-au- Prince, moved to America in 1994. He was also a parishioner who attended a weekly mass at Our Lady of Miracles Church. Pastor Rev. Gerald Dumont described Aleger as a nice fellow.

“This is a shock to us and to the whole community,” he said. “He was a parishioner here for at least six years, and he came in regularly. We hope there is an investigation to the end.”

Rev. Dumont also said that one of Aleger’s two sons will receive his Holy Communion on May 12th.

Aleger’s wife, Mislov, told reporters last week: “He went to work and went to church, and to the gym. That’s all he did. He was a kind man…he was my everything,” she sobbed.

“It’s a terrible tragedy. He was a nice fellow, very neighborly, and very quietly went about his business,” said Pastor Albert Morrison of Plymouth Congregational Church, who also was Aleger’s neighbor on Glenwood Road. “There has been a nice, neighborly response,” Morrison said, highlighting the community’s compassion to the family since the tragedy.

“Unfortunately, bad things happen to good people,” one neighbor lamented. He said his kids often played in the yard with Aleger’s two sons. A fellow Haitian who has lived in Canarsie since 2003, he said, “never heard of something like this,” citing that his murder can been seen as an aberration to an otherwise quiet neighborhood.

John W. Hyland, President of the Auxiliary Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York issued a statement: “I’d like to thank civic minded New Yorkers of Citzens Outraged at Police Being Shot (COP SHOT) for announcing their ten-thousand dollar reward which will be in effect for information leading to the apprehension of the slayer of our brother, Auxiliary Police Officer Francky Aleger. We take this as a demonstration of appreciation and respect not only for our fallen brother and his family, but for every New Yorker who volunteers to serve as an NYPD Auxiliary Police Officer.”

The wake will be held at Guarino Funeral Home on Friday, April 13th and the funeral will be held at Holy Family Church on Flatlands Avenue and Rockaway Parkway at 9:45 a.m on Saturday. Aleger will be laid to rest at Canarsie Cemetery.