A suspect has been identified in the shooting death of an NYPD officer on Tuesday night (Oct. 20) Randolph Holder, 33, a New York City police officer was fatally shot at 8:30 p.m. in East Harlem. Holder was going after a suspect who allegedly stole a bike. The officer and his other colleagues chased the gunman on the FDA Pedestrian walk, when he opened fire and shot Holder in the head. After the shooting, Holder was taken to Harlem Hospital where he died at 10:22pm, according to the New York Daily News. The shooter has been named as 30-year-old Tyrone Howard, according to ABC News.
“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,” witness Doris Ayala who lives at the Urban American River Apartment Complex on 102nd street and FDR Drive, told the News. “I thought they were going to shoot outside of my window. There was a gun on the sidewalk outside my building,”
According to CNN, the suspect was found just a few blocks away from the shooting and was later taken to the hospital for a gun shot wound on his leg. Holder was a third generation police officer from Guyana, and patrolled the East Harlem Projects during his shifts. He has enlisted in the NYPD in 2010. And according to the New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, he had a great record he stated in a press conference.
“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.”
Our condolences go to Holder’s family. Further details for this case are still pending.