T2T to pay off mortgage for family of slain Delaware State Trooper

WILMINGTON, Del. — A national nonprofit organization announced Monday it will pay off the mortgage on the home of a Delaware State Police corporal who was fatally shot last week, providing long-term financial security for his young family.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation said it plans to satisfy the mortgage on the residence of Corporal Matthew T. “Ty” Snook, 34, by New Year’s Day. Snook was killed Dec. 23 while working an overtime assignment at a Division of Motor Vehicles office near Wilmington. The foundation’s contribution is intended to lift the burden of debt from the trooper’s widow and their 1-year-old daughter.

Snook, a husband and father, was shot while on duty two days before Christmas. In his final moments, he reportedly pushed a DMV employee to safety before being struck a second time. A New Castle County police officer later shot and killed the gunman.

“Corporal Snook’s final act was not to seek safety for himself, but to get a stranger out of harm’s way,” said Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. “The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is honored to stand with the family he leaves behind and ensure that his courage, selflessness, and bravery will never be forgotten.”

The foundation, which was established in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, provides mortgage-free homes and mortgage payoffs for families of fallen first responders and military service members. The Snook family’s mortgage payoff will be the first of 343 such homes the organization plans to deliver in 2026 as part of a tribute marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

Tunnel to Towers also builds specially-adapted homes for catastrophically injured veterans and works to combat veteran homelessness, according to its mission statement.

The foundation’s Fallen First Responder Home Program has previously paid off mortgages for other families of officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty as part of its ongoing efforts to support those left behind.