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PHILADELPHIA -- For the fourth time in less than year, a Philadelphia police officer has been killed in the line of duty.
A little more than a week after a Funeral Mass for Officer Isabel Nazario, police officers will once more pay tribute to a member of the force, this time 30-year-old Patrick McDonald.
The three deaths this year are the most since 1996, when four officers died.
Since 2006, five officers have been killed:
Nazario, 40, died Sept. 5 after her patrol car was struck by a stolen SUV in the city's Mantua section. The car was driven recklessly by a 16-year-old boy, who was later charged with third-degree murder. Nazario was a squad officer for Strike Force C.
Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, 39, was killed May 3 by one of three bank robbers after a Saturday morning stickup at a Bank of America branch inside a ShopRite in Port Richmond. Liczbinski was assigned to the 24th Police District. Police killed one of the robbers during the holdup.
Officer Chuck Cassidy, 54, was shot Oct. 31 during a morning robbery at a Dunkin' Donuts on Broad Street in West Oak Lane. He died the next day. Cassidy's death was particularly chilling because the killer was caught on a security video camera shooting the officer at point-blank range. The man accused of killing him was arrested a week after the shooting at a homeless shelter in Miami.
Officer Gary Skerski, 46, was shot to death outside a bar in Frankford on May 8, 2006, when he and his partner interrupted a holdup. Skerski was working overtime. He was hit by a shotgun blast in the neck, above his protective vest. Skerski died a day later. His killer, Solomon Montgomery, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to life.
