[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
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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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