The judge who released the alleged gunman who shot and killed 33-year-old NYPD Officer Randolph Holder on Tuesday now laments that the gunman was on the streets due to a decision she made.
Speaking to reporters while seated in her car on Friday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Patricia Nunez said, “I am truly sorry… There is nothing that breaks my heart more than a police officer dying.”
According to the New York Post, Holder was allegedly shot and killed by a “gangbanger” named Tyrone Howard, who was sent “to rehab instead of jail” for drug-sales in May, “despite his history of three similar felony sale convictions and the advice of prosecutors.”
On the night of his death, Officer Holder and his partner–31-year-old Officer Omar Wallace–“encountered Howard as they chased on foot a group of armed gang members fleeing a shooting on 101st Street and FDR Drive.” Howard fled, and Holder and Wallace gave chase to “a footbridge at 120th and FDR Drive.” At the East River side of the bridge, Howard allegedly opened fire, striking Holder in the head and killing him.
Holder’s partner was able to wound Howard and capture him at East 124 Street.
As Nunez lamented the role she’d played in the decision to release Howard, another judge involved in the decision–Justice Edward McLaughlin–took a different tact by suggesting there was no way to predict Howard would allegedly carry out such an act. McLaughlin said, “I don’t get a crystal ball when I get a robe.”
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