Slain New York Police Officer Buried In Native Guyana

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – Hundred’s attended the burial of slain New York Police Department (NYPD) Officer, Randolph Holder, who was buried here with a 21-gun salute, last Saturday.

Mourners walked past the street where Holder, 33, was raised and onto the path he took to get to school as they retraced the steps of a native son who wore the shield of the NYPD.

Three dozen NYPD officers, saluted the arrival of his coffin outside Brickdam Cathedral, a Roman Catholic Church here.

The New York Times reports that as rain poured down, NYPD pallbearers lifted the coffin into the chapel, as they accompanied their slain colleague on his final journey.

Approximately 100 NYPD officers were joined inside the cathedral by relatives ad friends.

The report said Holder, who shot and killed on October 20 while chasing a suspect in East Harlem, Manhattan, was given the kind of ceremony usually reserved for public officials.

“He is a true hero of Guyana,” said NYPD Captain Reymundo Mundo – commanding officer of Police Service Area 5 in East Harlem, where Holder served. “You should all be proud of him.”

He recalled how Holder and his partners “chased the bad guys together,” adding that Holder “did the right things.”

Desmond King, Holder’s uncle, said he had taken the NYPD job knowing the perils that officers faced.

“It was a risk he had to take,” King said, “and it’s the risk all heroes do to make a difference.”

The funeral was also attended by Guyana’s president, David A. Granger and the mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green.