[2] In the early morning of September 11, he volunteered to assist PAPD Sergeant John McLoughlin with the rescue effort in the first World Trade Center building along with Officer Will Jimeno.

After a brief overlook of the common area the floor shook as the South Tower collapsed just 56 minutes after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175.

Pezzulo was pinned,[2] and in an effort to alert rescuers to their whereabouts, he fired a single shot into the air before dying.

[4] Jean-ette Pezzulo met her husband Dominick while they were attending Herbert Lehman High School in the Bronx.

[5][citation needed] On the morning of September 11, 2001, Pezzulo and fellow officer and friend, Will Jimeno, were stationed at the entrances of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Despite repeated attempts, the large piece of concrete that had pinned Jimeno was too much for Pezzulo to move by himself and at 10:28 a.m. the North Tower collapsed.

Now mortally wounded, Officer Pezzulo fired a single shot from his Smith & Wesson 5946 9mm service weapon in an attempt to alert any nearby rescuers to the group's position beneath the rubble but died of his injuries shortly thereafter.

"[6] On September 9, 2005, all of the public safety officers killed in the attacks were posthumously awarded the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor by President George W.