A New York City police officer died after being shot in the head while chasing a gunman, the New York Times reports. Officer Randolph Holder, 33, a Guyanese immigrant and a police officer for five years, was the fourth killed in the line of duty in 11 months. A suspect was in custody. Holder and his partners were responding to reports of gunshots around 8:30 p.m. when they encountered a man riding a bicycle on East 120th Street in East Harlem. Gunfire was exchanged, and Holder was struck in the head.
Holder followed in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather, both of whom had been police officers in Guyana. “Three generations of police in this family,” New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton said today, his voice breaking. Holder worked in the Housing Bureau and was assigned to a service area that covers three precincts spanning parts of the Upper East Side and Harlem. Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said police officers are expected to carry themselves like superheroes, but incidents like Holder's killing show that they remain vulnerable.