[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                             A FALLEN HERO

                                 ______


                          HON. BRUCE F. VENTO

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my sympathy at the 
tragic murders of Sergeant Henry Joseph Daly, a Washington, DC police 
officer and friend, and the FBI agents Martha Dixon Martinez and 
Michael John Miller. My staff and I are shocked and saddened by this 
November 22, 1994, outburst of senseless violence.
  Mary Ann Daly, Henry's wife, has worked with me and my staff for 
almost 17 years. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mary Ann and her 
family. They are truly all our friends.
  The community of Washington, DC, of which this Capitol is a part, has 
lost a good man and an excellent law enforcement officer. DC police 
Sgt. Henry Daly was admired and respected by those he served and with 
whom he served. To paraphrase his brother, Michael Daly, Henry was a 
larger than life figure. We must remember how Henry Daly lived even as 
we mourn his passing.
  I would like to include for the Record the following article from the 
Washington Post from Wednesday, November 23:

              Slain Detective Known as Dogged Investigator

                  (By Sari Horwitz and Debbi Wilgoren)

       Sgt. Henry Joseph Daly, a D.C. police officer for 28 years, 
     was a big, tough, chain-smoking cop who liked to joke in his 
     gravelly voice about the squad room coffee, but was always 
     known as being cool yet aggressive under pressure. He was 
     respected by his colleagues as a dogged investigator during 
     the years when homicides in the District have soared to 
     record-breaking levels.
       Daly, 51, was shot to death yesterday in his third-floor 
     office when a gunman opened fire in D.C. police headquarters 
     at 300 Indiana Avenue NW. Two FBI agents, Martha Dixon 
     Martinez and Michael John Miller also died as did the gunman. 
     Two other people, FBI agent John Kuchta and a 15-year-old 
     were wounded.
       ``He was a tremendous homicide detective,'' said former 
     D.C. police chief Isaac Fulwood Jr., breaking into tears when 
     he heard of Daly's death. ``And he told me a few months ago 
     he was just about to retire.''
       ``He knew how to talk to people and he was an outstanding 
     crime scene man,'' Fulwood said. ``In the face of all the 
     horror you see on the street, Hank Daly could walk up to a 
     crime scene and put the thing together.''
       Tony Daniels, an assistant director in charge of the FBI 
     Washington field office, said ``the law enforcement community 
     here in Washington has lost three close members of its 
     family.''
       ``These are times you pray will never happen,'' Daniels 
     said.
       Martinez, 35, who received a degree in biology from the 
     University of Pittsburgh, had been an FBI agent for seven 
     years. She recently married fellow agent, Jorge Martinez and 
     lived in Springfield.
       Miller, 41, was an eight-year member of the FBI. Eight 
     years after getting a law degree from Georgetown University, 
     he joined the bureau and had served in Oklahoma and 
     Washington. He lived with his wife and two children in 
     Upper Marlboro
       Kuchta, 31, who lives in Sterling, joined the FBI three 
     years ago after receiving a law degree from Duquesne 
     University in Pennsylvania. He remained in critical condition 
     last night at Washington Hospital Center.
       The father of two grown children--Elizabeth, 25 and Steven, 
     23, Daly lived with his wife and high school sweetheart, Mary 
     Ann in Fairfax County. Mary Ann Daly was at work as the 
     appointment secretary for Rep. Bruce Vento (D-Minn.) when the 
     shooting occurred.
       About two years ago, Fulwood tapped Daly to command his new 
     ``Cold Case Squad,'' a group of veteran detectives and FBI 
     agents assigned to concentrate on homicides cases that 
     remained unsolved for three months or more.
       Daly's fellow detectives said last night they were still in 
     shock over his brutal death. They described him as a 
     dedicated man who could have retired from the force at any 
     time, but chose to continue working as a detective.
       Former D.C. police detective V.I. Smith, who worked with 
     Daly when they were patrol officers in the 6th Police 
     District, remembered him yesterday as ``the kind of guy who 
     never went to sleep.'' ``He was always out in the street, 
     looking and searching,''Smith said. ``He was a good officer. 
     He was very well-respected. He did his job and he did it 
     well.''
       ``Hank was a stabilizing force,'' said William O. Ritchie, 
     the former head of the D.C. criminal investigation division. 
     ``Rarely did you see him in a high-stressed demeanor. He took 
     things in stride.'' Ritchie said Daly's death was going to be 
     hard on the homicide squad.
       ``The guys are going to be devastated,'' he said. ``People 
     look at the macho homicide detective. But they too are human 
     beings. Their space has been violated by the bad guy.''
       At a news conference last night, D.C. Police Chief Fred 
     Thomas called Daly ``an outstanding detective.'' ``He was a 
     family man,'' Thomas said. ``You couldn't find a better 
     person or police official.''
       Daly, whose father was in the Army, was born in Kassel, 
     Germany. He served for about six years in the Marine Corps 
     and then joined the D.C. police force, according to his 
     brother, Lt. Michael Daly, a Metro transit officer.
       He spent 13 years in the homicide squad. At his desk in the 
     cluttered office of the cold-case squad, Daly would grumble 
     about the mud coming out of the coffee machine, and he filled 
     up ashtray after ashtray in the non-smoking Municipal 
     Building.
       ``He's been here so long no one can believe he's gone,'' 
     said Lt. Charles Bailey, commander of the D.C. forensic 
     science section and a friend of 18 years. ``Everyone thought 
     he was invincible. He was a great detective''.
       Several neighbors said last night that Daly, who loved 
     hunting and belonged to the Fairfax Rod and Gun Club, had 
     told them he would soon retire.
       ``He and his son would clean deer in the backyard,'' 
     neighbor Michelle Oliver said. ``He was very strong-minded, 
     very firm.
       Another neighbor, Garnette Strickland, 77, said, ``I can't 
     believe it. . .  You would think you would be safe inside a 
     police department.''
       On Saturday, Bailey said that he and Daly went to the 
     Fairfax Rod and Gun Club to shoot skeet. ``I said, `Why don't 
     you retire from the police department, Hank?''' recalled 
     Bailey, who was with Daly's family last night. ``He said, `I 
     can't. I love it.' ''

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