Guyana-born NYPD cop shot dead in Harlem

Oct 22, 2015 News

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One day after a US-based Guyanese, NYPD officer was fatally shot, flags flew at half mast yesterday in New York. The NYPD housing officer was fatally shot to the head on Tuesday night, by a trigger-happy perpetrator during a chase and gunfight on a pedestrian overpass in East Harlem, police said.

Tuesday night’s incident started as a gang dispute between members of rival gangs that operate in the adjacent Jefferson Houses, East River Houses and the Wagner Houses, police sources said, noting that there is an ongoing dispute between gangs in the three apartment complexes.
Billy Aubry, the NYPD’s Chief of Detectives for Manhattan said that two police officers on the roof of one of those locations observed shots being fired down below and responded.
The gangs got into a dispute in front of a parking garage at 445 East 102nd Street and that is where shots were fired, police sources said.
“We know from the evidence recovered at the scene that there were at least three firearms that were fired,” Aubry said.
Officer Randolph Holder, 33, was shot in the forehead by the coldhearted gunman, who had stolen a bike and was being pursued by cops along the promenade hugging the East River around 8:30 p.m., Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.
Described as a brave officer, Holder died at 10:22 p.m. at Harlem Hospital. A suspect, shot in the legs, was arrested.
Holder joined the NYPD in July 2010 and worked in Police Service Area 5, as a patrol officer in the public housing projects of East Harlem.
“I think all of us will tell you this is the hardest thing that we do,” Bratton said. “That we mourn one of our own. I’ve been doing this for 45 years. It doesn’t get easier. It never gets easier and it should never get easier.”
Holder was the fourth NYPD officer killed in the line of duty in the past 11 months.
Police responded to reports of gunshots around 8:30 p.m. near First Avenue and 102nd Street. Witnesses told cops that several men fled over the pedestrian walkway that crosses the FDR Drive and then continued onto the footpath that runs alongside the highway.
“There was an argument between two or three people. All of a sudden there were shots; you could hear the shells kick back as they hit the cement. I had my whole family on the floor,” said witness Doris Ayala, 62, who lives at the Urban American River Crossing apartment complex at 102nd St. and FDR Drive.
“I thought they were going to shoot outside of my window. There was a gun on the sidewalk outside my building,” said the shocked woman, who reported hearing about 10 shots. One of the men stole a bicycle and fled north along the footpath.
Holder and another cop encountered the fleeing suspect on another pedestrian overpass, near 120th St., and exchanged gunfire.
“There were six or seven shots; they were exchanging fire,” said John Lucero, 19, who could see the shooting from his apartment window. “There were three of them, one police officer and two other men. Cops were pointing at a body. It was a police officer. He was just lying there.”
The mortally wounded Holder crumpled to the ground as the suspect ditched the bike and ran north along the promenade. The fiend was finally apprehended at 124th Street.
He suffered gunshot wounds to his legs and was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell. Rescuers rushed the critically injured cop to Harlem Hospital.
Three other suspects were taken into custody around 111th St. and were being questioned early Wednesday. At least two guns were recovered, police said.
Mayor de Blasio was seen rushing out of a dinner for the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, an invitation-only fund-raiser to celebrate the grand reopening of the mayoral residence after recent repairs.
“We’re all in mourning tonight. This whole city is in mourning,” Mayor de Blasio said. “We’re mourning a man that gave his life as a guardian for all of us.
“We are humbled by Officer Randolph Holder’s example of service and courage and sacrifice. Our hearts are heavy. We offer our thoughts and our prayers to his family who are experiencing unimaginable pain as we saw earlier when we gathered with them,” the mayor said.
Traffic on the FDR Drive was at a standstill for hours as police investigated the shooting.
At Harlem Hospital, hundreds of police officers held vigil, hoping for the best before they received the grim news of their fallen colleague.
“New York City police officers everyday go out and carry themselves on the street like superheroes on the street,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said. “But the reality is, when we’re attacked, we bleed. When we bleed, we die. And when we die, we cry.”
The slain office’s father, Randolph Neil Holder Snr. was on hand at the hospital. In his moment of grief, he offered his son’s fellow officers comfort. “He always wanted to be a cop…He delivered his duties diligently, with pride said the elder holder.
“When in his time of grief, he sought to comfort the officers of PSA 5. He was strong enough and brave enough to go in and address them as they tried to comfort him. He in fact was comforting them,” a teary-eyed Bratton said.
“I can understand his son and the bravery his son exhibited tonight, rushing toward danger and giving his life for the citizens of New York City.”
At least 100 NYPD officers were seen leaving the hospital around 11:30 p.m.
Holder, who emigrated from Guyana 12 years ago, was a third-generation police officer, following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps in the line of duty.
From all accounts the police officer gunned down by a career criminal was focused on his seemingly bright future: A gold NYPD detective’s shield and a nice home in the suburbs.
“He should have been closing on a house next month in Valley Stream, but all of the dreams went down the drain, he always wanted to be a policeman,” said the elder Holder, himself a cop and the son of a cop from their native Guyana. “That he did. He delivered his duties diligently. With pride,” his father Randolph Holder Sr. said Wednesday morning.
Holder Sr. said he chatted with his son on Tuesday afternoon, about five hours before the fatal gunfight with suspect Tyrone “Peanut” Howard, 30.
“Another cousin, 18-year-old Damani Adams, remembered how thrilled the family was when Holder Jr. graduated with the Police Academy’s Class of 2010.
His cousin, Ruth Lawrence, told the Daily News that Holder, a five-year NYPD veteran, was poised to move up in the department ranks.
“He said he was going to be a detective,” said Lawrence, 54. “He was just waiting for the call.”
De Blasio extended his condolences to Holder’s family and vowed, “We will not stop in the relentless pursuit of the violent few.”

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