FAR ROCKAWAY — A street corner was renamed Det. Randolph Holder Way on Friday, a tribute to the NYPD officer who was shot and killed while chasing a suspect in East Harlem in 2015.
The corner of Briar Place and Collier Avenue — across the street from where Holder's parents live — will now act as a tribute to the slain officer, who moved to Far Rockaway from Guyana in the early 2000s, officials said.
"We gather to make sure he will be remembered," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the ceremony. "Renaming this street is one of many ways we honor heroes and keep their memory alive."
Holder joined the NYPD in 2010 and worked with the department's Housing Bureau, in PSA 5 in East Harlem.
He was shot in the head and killed by Tyrone Howard while responding to a report of gang-related gunshots in a park at East 102nd Street and the FDR Drive on Oct. 20, 2015, officials said.
Howard was sentenced to life in prison in April.
Elected officials and police officers pose with the Holder family after his street renaming. The police K9 named in his honor, Randy, was also in attendance at the ceremony. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)
A police officer salutes as the street sign honoring Det. Randolph Holder is unveiled. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)
Police Commissioner James O'Neill thanked the Holder family, including dad Randolph Holder, who was a police officer in his native Guyana, for their continued support of the NYPD.
"We put up signs to remember the heroes of the NYPD, and as we move through the years maybe some young man or young girl will look up at that sign and someone will tell them what a great person Randolph really was, and what a great job he did," he said.
The senior Randolph Holder said his son was a gentleman, and a good police officer — and protected his city while most slept.
After the Holder family pulled black bunting off the sign, they said he would have loved seeing everyone gathered in his honor.
"Yesterday I was driving, shedding tears, thinking about my son and how he isn't here anymore," the elder Randolph Holder said. But he hoped the simple sign would inspire others, and bring "all that is good for humanity."
"He would be glad for this today."
