Slain Newark cop was all-around nice kid who helped neighbors and racked up police medals along way

The young Newark cop executed during a gun sweep last week was a decorated detective — and just an all-around “nice kid’’ who regularly helped out his neighbors.Detective Joseph Azcona, 26, grew up in New Jersey’s largest city and had been on the force for five years when he was ambushed while still in his police car and shot in the head by a 14-year-old boy Friday evening, prosecutors said.“I work at night, so when I’m coming home from work in the morning, [Azcona] would be leaving, and when I’m looking for a parking spot, he would always say, “Miss, do you want my spot?” resident Matilda Daa, 45, recalled to The Post on Monday.“He was a very nice kid,’’ she said of her slain hero neighbor, who lived with his mother.Daa’s son even looked up to Azcona, she added.“My little boy — when he sees him, he would say ‘Officer!’,” she said.Azcona and his partner were responding to a 911 report of a person with a gun at Carteret Street and Broadway in the Forest Hill section of Newark around 6:30 p.m.Friday when the teen suspect started firing at them first, law-enforcement sources said.“I heard about six shots, like fast shots,’’ a worker at the nearby McDonald’s told The Post on Monday — adding there is video of at least part of the shoot-out and that cops confiscated it.“We don’t know the kid because you can’t see his face on the video,’’ said the employee, who declined to give his name.A man who was riding his bike down the street at the time added, “I heard the shots — really loud.“But I’m from here, so I know gun shots when I hear them.“Before you know it, all you see is cop cars flying down the block,’’ he said.

“I was riding to go home, and a cop stopped me and told me I had to go around the block.”Azcona took a fatal bullet from an automatic weapon while still sitting in his seat, authorities said.His funeral will be held Friday at 10:30 a.m.at the Cathedral Basilica Roman Catholic Church a...