He was a natural-born leader — a former standout athlete at Fordham University and an officer who won repeated awards in his nearly seven years with the NYPD.
Slain cop Brian Mulkeen was simply “a remarkable human being,” his grieving father, Brian Mulkeen Sr., told The Post on Sunday — hours after his son was shot dead while wrestling an armed suspect in the Bronx.
“Everybody loved him,” the dad said.
About two days earlier, the hero cop, 33, had pulled an illegal gun off the streets during one of the more than 260 arrests he had made since joining the force in 2013, police sources said.
“He was very active and motivated, a real go-getter,’’ said Fred Winter, a financial secretary for the Police Benevolent Association who works in the Bronx and had interactions with Mulkeen.
“He had an eye for the street, and even as a young cop, he made gun arrests,’’ Winter said. “He had a great future with the NYPD.”
NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said the ���brave” officer was “doing the job we asked him to do, a job that New Yorkers needed him to do.”
The 2008 Fordham graduate first served in the Bronx’s 48th Precinct, then moved to the borough’s Anti-Crime Unit in the 47th Precinct in December 2017.
NYPD Capt. Kevin Coleman, head of Manhattan’s 10th Precinct, said he had the “honor” of being Mulkeen’s instructor at the Police Academy in 2013.
“He was a natural leader, courageous & honest,” Coleman wrote in a Facebook post. “Brian inspired his team to greater feats & will never be forgotten. RIP my friend & #Hero.”
Out of Mulkeen’s many arrests, 150, more than half, were for felonies, authorities said.
The rising star also received at least five Excellence in Police Duties awards, sources said.
At Mulkeen’s Yorktown Heights home, where he lived with his girlfriend — an officer in the 44th Precinct — a bouquet of purple flowers was left on the stoop.
The couple’s across-the-street neighbor, Andrew McGann, said Mulkeen was well-liked and would often come over for a chat in his kitchen.
“He used to tell me he always wanted to be a cop. He could have done any number of things, but he loved being a cop,” McGann said.
“He only lived here six months, but I feel like I lost a son.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Mulkeen “made the greatest sacrifice. He put his life on the line, and he lost it in service to the people of this city.”
Before his untimely death, Mulkeen — who did the weight and hammer throwing events at Fordham — pledged to rejoin his alma mater as a volunteer throwing coach, the school said.
As a student, Mulkeen was part of the 2008 team that won the Metropolitan Outdoor Track & Field Championship, a first for the program, the school said.
“Brian Mulkeen went out into the world to do exactly what we expect of our alumni — be a man for others — and he was slain in service to the local community,” Fordham’s president, the Rev. Joseph McShane, said in a statement.
Additional reporting by C.J. Sullivan and wires