On the final day of February 1980, a robbery at a Brooklyn bar on 477 Rogers Avenue ended in a deadly shootout. Irving W. Smith, 42, an off-duty New York City Transit Police Department officer and firearms instructor with 12 years’ service, was among the patrons when two men began the robbery. One robber carried a .32 caliber handgun, the other a 12-inch knife. Patrons were ordered to lie on the floor; Smith drew his service weapon, identified himself as a police officer and ordered the robbers to drop their weapons.

A gunfight followed. Both Officer Smith and the handgun-wielding robber were fatally shot. The knife-wielding assailant was wounded by Smith’s fire but escaped the scene and later sought hospital treatment; he was taken into custody that night. The man was on parole for a prior robbery conviction, was convicted of murder and received a 15-years-to-life sentence.

Did anyone in the neighborhood or who knew Irving Smith ever hear more about that night or the bar at 477 Rogers Avenue?