Cops and members of the Jamaica community last Thursday marked 27 years to the day when Police Officer Edward Byrne was gunned down at Inwood Street and 107th Avenue. Photo Courtesy of NYPD.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, scores of cops from all over the city and members of the community last Thursday gathered in Jamaica to celebrate the life and mark the death of Police Officer Edward Byrne, gunned down on Feb. 26, 1988.
De Blasio delivered remarks shortly after midnight at the intersection of 107th Avenue and Inwood Street, where Byrne was shot five times while sitting in his marked radio car outside the home of a protected witness in a drug case.
The murder was carried out on the orders of neighborhood crack kingpin Howard “Pappy” Mason, who sought revenge for being jailed.
“He was a guardian—a silent guardian doing that which we wish all people would do in this society—stand up for something bigger and better,” de Blasio said of Byrne, who was a rookie assigned to the 103rd Precinct at the time of his death. “A young man who believed in something—he was taken from us so young, and he could never have known what his life would later mean to all of us and that it would begin such a profound turnaround. He was doing something for the right reasons and with a sense of courage, and commitment, and purpose, like so many people that day, and every day since, who have worn the uniform of the NYPD.”
Byrne’s murder reverberated throughout the country. In the city, many observers point to that ambush as the tipping point that ignited the gradual transformation of New York’s identity from perilous land of outlaws to protected big city.
The four men charged in the execution-style hit—Philip Copeland, Todd Scott, Scott Cobb, and David McClary—were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Mason was convicted of federal charges, including Byrne’s murder, and is serving out a life sentence in the ADX Florence Supermax prison.
De Blasio noted that on such solemn, somber occasions, civilians are reminded of the sacrifice of the city’s Finest.
“We owe it to you to always appreciate and remember what you do to make that possible, to make sure we’re protecting the guardians who protect all of us,” de Blasio said. “And you have my commitment and Commissioner Bratton’s commitment that we will do that. But tonight, it’s so important just to remember a good, young man—a good, young man who represented all that we aspire to be.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
