On September 11, 2001, Mychal Judge accompanied firefighters to the World Trade Center in New York City after its north and south towers were struck by two commercial airliners that had been hijacked by members of al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist organization. It is believed that he was killed by falling debris while he was inside the north tower. He was the first official casualty of the September 11 attacks.
Judge was a Roman Catholic priest, Franciscan friar, and chaplain for the New York City Fire Department. Some stories have circulated that he had been administering the sacrament of last rites to a fallen firefighter when the south tower collapsed.