Another NYPD officer was killed on Tuesday night in East Harlem during a chase and gunfight on a pedestrian overpass above the FDR Drive, the Daily News reported.
The officer, named Randolph Holder, was 33 years old. He was shot in the forehead by the gunman who'd stolen a bike during a chase along the East River Promenade around 8:30 p.m. Holder died at 10:22 p.m. at Harlem Hospital.
A suspect was shot in the legs and arrested.
Holder emigrated from Guyana and was a third-generation police officer. He'd followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps into the line of duty, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said during a press conference at the hospital.
"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."
Bratton's words, "It should never get easier," echo poignantly in the wake of President Obama's recent claim that the American populace is becoming desensitized to gun violence.
We think Bratton is right. Each gun riddled death, every single death that could maybe have been prevented with stricter gun laws, every single one of these deaths should hurt. We agree, Bratton. It should never get easier.
It shouldn't get easier even though CNN reported that 31 police officers have been killed in the line of duty in the United States this year, and Bratton said Holder was the fourth officer killed in the line of duty in NYC in the last 11 months.
It shouldn't get easier after 10 people were killed at Umpqua Community College in Oregon in early October, after thirteen people were killed at the Washington Navy Yard, after three were killed at Fort Hood in Texas, and nine were killed in a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
It should never get easier, especially after 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Yes, three years ago and no change to speak of.
245 people have been killed in homicides so far in NYC in 2015.
We have to ask ourselves, is this the best we can do? Are we prepared to be complacent in this nationwide culture of gun violence?
"This whole city is in mourning," said Mayor de Blasio, who ran out of a dinner for the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, an invitation-only fund-raiser when he heard the news on Tuesday night.
"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," de Blasio said.
Our thoughts are with Officer Holder's family too, but as President Obama recently said, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action.
Let's ask our policy makers, "What are we doing to solve gun control?" We can't keep reporting on these deaths. We can't just accept that this is the best we can do.
Check out No Matter How Many Skyscrapers NYC Builds, We’ll Never Replace Our Twin Towers.
[via Daily News]
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