Officer Anthony Oswald McLean, 27, was killed in the early morning of April 13, 1988, while on duty in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. A United States Army veteran who had served with Special Forces, McLean had been with the New York City Housing Authority Police Department for just under three years. He and a partner were searching the Samuel J. Tilden Housing Development for a reported missing 10-year-old girl when, at about 1:45 a.m., McLean descended a stairwell and encountered criminal activity on the second floor.

A man opened fire; a single bullet struck McLean in the neck above his vest. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital and died less than two hours later. The missing girl was later found safe at a family member’s home. The shooter fled but was arrested a month later in Philadelphia; he was on parole for a 1979 murder and was later convicted of first-degree murder and given a minimum 120-year sentence.

Officer McLean was survived by his fiancée, a NYC Corrections Officer, his parents and four brothers.