Monday, February 2, 2009

Slain EMS worker remembered


The EMT volunteer murdered Friday night in Cape Vincent had a promising career in emergency medical work cut short.

Mark B. Davis, 25, was killed by a gunshot from a high powered rifle while responding to a call late Friday evening.

Mr. Davis was involved in multiple emergency agencies, was enrolled in a paramedic program at JCC and worked full time at Watertown's Guilfoyle Ambulance, says the county's Fire and Emergency Services Director Glenn Morrison.

"He had an amazing passion for it," Morrison said.

Davis joined the Cape Vincent Fire Department in late 2006. He was both a volunteer and paid driver for Thousand Islands Rescue. "This was all he knew at this point," Morrison said. "He gave the ultimate sacrifice."

He said Davis' death is being treated as a "line of duty death," meaning funeral and survivor benefits being made available to Davis' family. It also means a formal honor guard funeral, to be held in Cape Vincent.

The designation of a "line of duty death" requires extensive paperwork which has already begun, Morrison said.

Davis moved to Cape Vincent about 2004 from Florida.

He is survived by his mother, a brother, a sister and other relatives.