QUEENS — Hundreds of police officers and city officials gathered Wednesday night to honor the late Police Officer Eddie Byrne, who was killed in Jamaica nearly 30 years ago when he was protecting a witness.
Officer Byrne was only 22 years-old when he was shot execution-style around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 26, 1988, by four killers hired by drug kingpin Howard "Pappy" Mason.
Byrne, a rookie officer at the 103rd Precinct, was sitting in his patrol car on 107th Avenue and Inwood Street, protecting a man, who reported on illegal drug activities in the area.
During the ceremony Wednesday night, police officers, accompanied by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio, held a moment of silence in tribute to officer Byrne.
A police cruiser from the 1980s, was parked there to mark the location where officer Byrne was killed.
“His family lost a good and brave young man,” said de Blasio, adding that the killing prompted “a turnaround,” including a crackdown on drug gangs in the area.
“It’s a turnaround that everyone here should be so proud of," De Blasio said. "So many people here participated in and brought this city to a place that that tragic night would have been beyond our wildest imagination,” de Blasio said.
“But today," he noted, "in this city, because of your efforts, we have a place transformed, a place so much safer, a place that people can live in peace.”
