Tears flow as slain NYPD Officer laid to rest in Guyana

By Jomo Paul

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Teary eyes, gloom faces, pomp, ceremony, glowing tributes and masses of people were the highlights of the funeral of slain Guyanese – New York Police Department (NYPD) Officer, Randolph Holder.

Holder, 33, was slain while attempting to apprehend a wanted criminal in Harlem last week. That criminal is now before the courts in New York.

The casket bearing the remains of Holder arrived in Guyana late Thursday evening at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) along with a slew of relatives, friends and members of the NYPD.

At the Cathedral on Saturday morning, mourners turned out in bountiful amounts packing the church and lining the streets in the environs, all hoping for a peek of Holder’s casket.

Among those included President David Granger, Vice President Khemraj Ramjattan, Mayor Hamilton Greene and US Ambassador Perry Holloway.

After the official ceremony at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the casket was draped with the flag of the NYPD and was then loaded into a waiting hearse. A parade then flowed through the streets of Georgetown to the Square of the Revolution.

There, hundreds of people were already waiting to join the procession as it made its way to the Le Repentir Cemetery.

Along the streets, curious persons stood outside of their homes and watched on as the Guyana Police Force Band led the parade in fine style right onto the final resting place of Holder.

At the Cemetery, the scenery morphed from bushy clumps and a dense overgrowth of weed into a clear patch dedicated for Holder.

The family poured around the coffin as the NYPD Pallbearers performed their last rites and delivered the NYPD flag that adorned the officer’s coffin, to his father, Randolph Holder Senior.

This was quickly followed by a 21-gun salute after which media personnel

and others were asked to leave the burial ground to allow the family some time to perform the last rites for a fallen son.

Holder, a third generation cop had an emotional service at a Queens, New York cathedral on Wednesday afternoon before arriving in Guyana.