QUEENS, NY, U.S.A.
POLICE OFFICER, POLICE SERVICE AREA 5, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
10/20/2015, EAST 120TH STREET AND THE FDR DRIVE, NEW YORK CITY
Officer Holder, who was 33, was a third-generation police officer: His father and grandfather had both served on the force in their native Guyana. He had immigrated to New York as a boy, and, in 2010, he joined the family profession in his adopted city. As a police recruit, in 2010, he wrote a letter to the New York Police Department describing his desire from a young age “to make a difference in my community and become a role model.”
His life, and his death, resonated across New York and back to Guyana. Officer Holder was assigned to Police Service Area 5.
On Tuesday, October 20th, New York City Police Officer Randolph Holder, Badge Number 13340, was murdered in the line of duty. He was a five-year veteran of the New York City Police Department.
New York City mourns the loss of Officer Randolph Holder. Please keep his family and all the men and women of the New York City Police Department in your thoughts. Officer Holder was posthumously promoted to the rank of Detective.
Slain NYPD Officer Randolph Holder was honored with a street dedication ceremony in his Queens neighborhood.
“Today is a very a bittersweet day,” said Holder’s father, Randolph Holder Sr., at the somber ceremony on Briar Place in Far Rockaway. “It started with a very sad day a year and nine months ago, but today is a very special day.” Mr. Holder Sr. said his son died doing what he did best: protecting the city.
“I think my son was a good, disciplined guy, man, officer and a gentleman,” he added. “When everyone of us are asleep, my son is out there watching over us.”
By renaming Briar Place after Holder, Commissioner O’Neill told the gathered crowd, the city keeps the memory of a hero alive.
“We put up signs to remember the heroes of the NYPD,” he added. “As we move through the years, maybe some young man or young girl will look up at that sign and a person will tell them what kind of a person Randolph Holder was, what a great job he did and why he became police officer and why people become police officers.”