4th NYC officer fatally of 2015; suspect in custody

NEW YORK (AP) — A police officer responding to a report of shots fired was killed during a gunfight and chase involving a stolen bicycle, and a suspect in his slaying was in custody, police said Wednesday.

Officer Randolph Holder, 33, was the fourth New York Police Department officer to be killed in the last 11 months, Police Commissioner William Bratton said. He was pronounced dead late Tuesday.

“That’s about as bad as it gets,” Bratton said at an emotional news conference at Harlem Hospital early Wednesday.

Dozens of Holder’s fellow officers stood outside the hospital and saluted as the ambulance carrying their fallen colleague left. Afterward, many embraced one another.

“Tonight, he did what every other officer in the NYPD does when the call comes — he ran toward danger,” Bratton said. “It was the last time he will respond to that call.”

The fatal shooting happened as Holder and his partner responded to a report of shots being fired at around 8:30 p.m. near a public housing development in East Harlem, in north Manhattan. When they arrived, a man and other witnesses said his bike had been stolen at gunpoint and the suspect fled with a group of people along a footpath heading north on the FDR Drive, adjacent to the East River.

The officers caught up to the suspect on a pedestrian overpass that spans the highway and traded gunfire. Holder was struck in the head, and the suspect fled down the river path near the highway. He was caught several blocks away with a gunshot wound in his leg, Bratton said. Police haven’t yet identified him.

Three others were taken into custody for questioning.