A New York City policeman pursuing a robbery suspect was shot in the head and died, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
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The Empire State Building was lit up blue Wednesday in honor of the fallen NYPD Officer Randolph Holder, a third-generation police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty Tuesday.
The public housing officer was a five-year force veteran who had gone with colleagues to investigate reports of shots being fired.
The suspect had been arrested in a major 2014 drug bust at the East River Houses and was most recently wanted by police for a September 1 shooting.
The communications on the radio informed officers that one of the suspects – later identified as Tyrone Howard – had fled north, and to aid his escape stole a bike at gunpoint from a bystander.
“He did what every other officer in the NYPD does when the call comes – he ran toward danger”, Bratton said Tuesday. Sitting in their vehicle 18 blocks away, Officer Holder and his partner responded to the call.
Holder’s father and grandfather worked as police officers in Guyana, on the northern coast of South America.
They made that judgment even though Howard had been a suspect in a shootout that wounded a boy and and elderly man and even though the Manhattan DA asked for a six-year prison sentence.
Other elected officials also said they were devastated by Holder’s murder.
Police took three other men into questioning for their possible involvement in Holder’s death.
“He would have been the last person in New York City I would have wanted to see in the diversion program”, Bratton said. Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch speaks during a news conference in the lobby of Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday, October 21, 2015, in New York.
Traffic on the East Side was a mess Tuesday night because of the closure of the FDR Drive. Having grown up in a cop family in Guyana as the son and grandson of police officers, his family dedicated themselves to law and order and he will be remembered as one of New York’s and Guyana’s finest. “All flags shall be lowered to half-staff effective immediately until the day of Officer Holder’s interment, by order of Mayor Bill de Blasio”, said a statement from city hall. Holder, who joined the NYPD in July 2010, had an “exemplary record” as an officer, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
“If ever there was a candidate for someone not to be diverted, it’s this guy”, Bratton said. He would have been on the street firing at officer Holder whether he was placed in rehab or not.
“Four police officers murdered in 11 months-that’s about as bad as it gets”, Bratton acknowledged yesterday.
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Police say the suspect, 30-year-old Tyrone Howard, opened fire, striking the officer in the head.
