Edward Byrne was a 22-year-old rookie New York City Police Officer when he was killed in the pre-dawn hours of February 26, 1988, in South Jamaica, Queens. Assigned alone to sit in a marked patrol car protecting the home of a witness who had reported drug activity and faced threats and firebombings, Byrne was shot five times in the head from a .38 caliber pistol after a car pulled up alongside his vehicle. Two men created a diversion at the passenger window while the shooter fired from the driver’s side and two others acted as lookouts.

The killing was described as an ordered hit intended to intimidate witnesses and law enforcement. Within a week, four men — Philip Copeland, Todd Scott, Scott Cobb, and David McClary — were arrested. The four were tried and convicted of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon and received sentences of 25 years to life; McClary was identified at trial as the shooter and received the same term. Howard Pappy Mason was identified as the person who ordered the hit from jail and was later convicted in federal court and sentenced to life in prison. Some of the convicted men have since been eligible for parole and have had hearings.

Did anyone in the neighborhood at the time recall unusual cars or people around that block in the days before February 26, 1988?