Slain NYPD detective Randolph Holder was honored Thursday with a plaque dedication ceremony on the one year anniversary of his death.
About dozen of Holder’s family members and 200 officers from across the city attended the emotional ceremony at PSA 5 in East Harlem where the 33-year-old hero worked before he was killed in the line of duty.
“It’s hard to believe that’s it been a year. But to you I’m sure it seems like an eternity,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill said to Holder’s teary-eyes family members seated in the front row.
“His death left a hole in the lives of so many of us,” O’Neill said. “While we know that putting up a plaque can’t fill that void, we can make certain that all that come into this building from this day forward – those that never even knew him – know that his life mattered, as all your lives matter.”
Holder, who was assigned to the Anti-Crime Unit, was gunned down on Oct. 20, 2015 by career criminal Tyrone Howard during a foot chase in East Harlem.
“It has been a long and difficult year I know for the family. And I want them to know that we have grieved with them every step of the way,” Mayor de Blasio said during the ceremony.
“We can make sure they know that Randolph Holder lived a life of significance and he made a difference,” the mayor said.
The wooden plaque, which bears Holder’s photo, two police shields, his badge and an in memoriam message, was given to Holder’s family and a similar one will be hung at PSA 5.
“It means a lot to me… that they give that honorable plaque in remembrance of my son after a year of his passing,” said Holder’s dad Randolph Holder Sr.
The grieving father added, “That year has been bittersweet. He had intentions of being a cop and he died doing what he loved to do.”