Thousands of officers from across the city and country will converge on Jamaica over the next two days for the wake and funeral of P.O. Randolph Holder, who was murdered in the line of duty last week in Manhattan.
A wake will be held for the Guyanese native, a former resident of Far Rockaway with relatives still in the neighborhood, on Tuesday at the Greater Allen AME Cathedral, where funeral services will also be held in his memory on Wednesday afternoon. Following the service, Holder’s body will be flown back to his native Guyana for burial.
Holder, 33, died on Oct. 20 after being shot in the head while looking for individuals who fired shots in the area of East 102nd Street and First Avenue in Harlem. While searching the area of the FDR Drive and East 102nd Street, he and fellow officers came across a suspect, Tyrone Howard, who pulled out a gun and opened fire.
During an exchange of shots between the officers and Howard, police said, Holder was shot in the head. He later died of his injuries at Harlem Hospital. Howard was shot in the leg during a foot pursuit, taken into custody and later booked on first-degree murder charges.
The weapon used to kill Holder, a .40-caliber handgun, was reportedly recovered Sunday by NYPD scuba divers searching the East River near where the officer was fatally shot.
The New York Daily News reported on Monday that Rev. Al Sharpton was scheduled to deliver the eulogy during Holder’s funeral service, but the civil rights activist announced Tuesday he would not take the pulpit.
