09/11/2026
KTFR Member, PAPD Officer Bruce Reynolds was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while attempting to rescue the victims trapped in the World Trade Center.
Officer Reynolds had served with the PAPD for 15 years. He is survived by his wife and two children.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, seventy-two officers from a total of eight local, state, and federal agencies were killed when terrorist hijackers working for the al Qaeda terrorist network, headed by Osama bin Laden, crashed two of four hijacked planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. After the impact of the first plane, putting the safety of others before their own, law enforcement officers along with fire and EMS personnel, rushed to the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to aid the victims and lead them to safety. Due to their quick actions, it is estimated that over 25,000 people were saved.
As the evacuation continued, the first tower unexpectedly collapsed due as a result of the intense fire caused by the impact. The second tower collapsed a short time later. 71 law enforcement officers, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department and over 2,800 civilians were killed at the World Trade Center site.
A third hijacked plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania when the passengers attempted to re-take control of the plane. One law enforcement officer, who was a passenger on the plane, was killed in that crash.
The fourth hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, killing almost 200 military and civilian personnel. No law enforcement officers were killed at the Pentagon.
The terrorist attacks resulted in the declaration of war against the Taliban regime, the illegal rulers of Afghanistan, and the al Qaeda terrorist network which also was based in Afghanistan.
On September 9, 2005, all of the public safety officers killed on September 11, 2001, were posthumously awarded the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor by President George W. Bush.
The contamination in the air at the World Trade Center site caused many rescue personnel to become extremely ill, and eventually led to the death of several rescue workers.
On May 1, 2011 members of the United States military conducted a raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding. During the raid, they shot and killed bin Laden.
Officer Bruce Reynolds, forty-one, joined the Port Authority Police in June, 1986. His partner of fifteen years, George Hickman, told The Star-Ledger that Reynolds “was a good cop…If you could exemplify the qualities you’d want in a police officer, he was it.”
Reynolds grew up in the Inwood section of Manhattan. As a teenager, he had a keen interest in the neighborhood garden and spent hours tending the spectacular array of roses, evergreens, mums and violets. He studied advertising and communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He then became a ranger in the city parks. After he joined the Port Authority in 1986, he was stationed at the bus terminal on 42nd Street. It was there he got to know Officer Michael Barry who later worked with him at the George Washington Bridge. A formidable team when it came to drug arrests, the two of them were together for thirteen years. Barry had the task of filing the missing person report for Reynolds.
On September 11, Officer Reynolds was sent to the Twin Towers from his post at the George Washington Bridge. Though he had respiratory problems, he went into the South Tower to help with the rescue effort.
On the day of his funeral, the upper deck of the George Washington Bridge was closed in both directions for about five minutes as the hearse drove slowly to New Jersey. When the caravan of two motorcycles and ten cruisers stopped at the Bridge Plaza South command post, a bagpiper played and the officers saluted.
Reynolds married his wife, Marian, who was from County Donegal in Ireland, in 1993. They enjoyed frequent trips to Donegal, where Reynolds was well respected by his in-laws. He enjoyed living in Knowlton, New Jersey, where he could pursue his interests of gardening and fishing. He is survived by Marian and their children Brianna and Michael.
