Chief Supt. Martin Kyzmickas, 46: Cop who had ‘warrior blood’
Killed battling Hamas terrorists at the Sderot police station on October 7
Chief Supt. Martin Kyzmickas, 46, a company commander in the National Enforcement Unit, from Sderot, was killed on October 7 while battling Hamas terrorists at the Sderot Police Station.
According to Israel Hayom, Martin had just completed an overnight shift and returned home when the attack began. He heard the sounds of gunfire and headed back toward the police station where he was killed in the battle.
The police station was the site of heavy battles as Hamas terrorists stormed the building and holed up inside. Ultimately more than two dozen officers were killed, and the next day security forces demolished the building, killing the remaining terrorists inside.
Deputy Commissioner Amir Cohen told Israel Hayom that just minutes before he was shot dead, Martin turned to him and said: “Commander, this is what I’ve been waiting for, to battle terrorists.”
Martin was killed just a few weeks before what would have been his 47th birthday.
He was buried in Tel Aviv on October 10. He is survived by his wife, Svetlana, their three children, Alisa, Mark and Tom, as well as his mother, Irena and a sister.
Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, Martin moved to Israel in 1995 at age 18. He joined the Israel Police in 2005 and remained in the force until his death more than 18 years later.
Commander Eyal Raon, the head of Martin’s division in the police, said that when he couldn’t reach him that morning, “the first thing we said was of course, he’s gone out to fight. It’s in his DNA… he was a hero.”
Danny Shtein, who served in the IDF with Martin, wrote on Facebook that he was the “most Rambo soldier I know. He raised his hand to volunteer for everything, from the most junior to most insane. A quiet soldier. Didn’t complain, not a conversationalist. To be with him in battle or in training and to see him on autopilot with his MAG rifle was incredible.”
“Martin was a warrior in every inch of his being. He was tough and quiet. Didn’t talk, didn’t argue or get into fights,” Shtein added. “Everybody loved him. Everybody wanted to be Martin.”
In a video put out by the Israel Police in his memory, his wife, Svetlana, said he headed back out to fight that day “because that was his choice, because he’s a viking.” Back when they met, she said, he was a fighter, “he was a warrior in his blood.”
Svetlana said when he headed back out early that morning, “I just heard the door close behind him. He didn’t say goodbye. We didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.”
At his funeral, she noted that her husband was not a particularly smiley man, “but when he smiled, he smiled. He smiled from all his heart.” In each of their three children, she said, “there is half of him. So I have a Martin and a half.”
