New York City police officer fatally shot in the head in gun battle

A police officer chasing a bike thief was fatally shot in the head during a gunfight on a pedestrian bridge, and a suspect in his slaying was in custody, authorities said Wednesday.

Officer Randolph Holder, who was pronounced dead late Tuesday, was the second New York Police Department officer killed this year and the fourth slain in the past 11 months, said Police Commissioner William Bratton.

"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 a man with a bike on a pedestrian overpass that spans the highway and traded gunfire, police said. Holder, 33, was struck in the head, and the suspect ditched the bike and fled down the river path near the highway, police said. He was caught several blocks away with a gunshot wound to his leg, Bratton said.

Suspect in custody

The suspect, 30-year-old Tyrone Howard, was out of the hospital and in police custody Wednesday. Charges were pending. It was unclear if he had a lawyer.

Three others who were taken into custody for questioning were later released.

Police searched Wednesday for the suspect's gun. They had recovered a clip and shell casings believed to have come from his weapon.

Mayor Bill De Blasio said Holder, who joined the force in July 2010, had an "exemplary record" as a police officer.

"We are humbled by Officer Randolph Holder's example, an example of service and courage and sacrifice," the mayor said.

Holder was a native of Guyana. He worked in the NYPD division that polices the city's public housing developments. His father and grandfather were police officers in Guyana, Bratton said.

Flags were at half-staff Wednesday at city buildings and other structures around the boroughs to mark Holder's death. Police closed sections of streets near the scene of the shooting, forcing parents walking their children to a nearby grade school to use an alternate route.