No murders have been recorded so far this year in Washington Heights, a neighborhood that regularly logged more than 100 annually in the late 1980s, during the height of the crack years. One of the area’s most infamous killings came on Oct. 18, 1988, when Police Officer Michael Buczek was gunned down while trying to stop a robbery on Broadway, near 161st Street. Three hours later, another cop, Christopher Hoban was fatally shot on W. 105th Street during an undercover drug operation.
It marked the first and only time in NYPD history that officers were killed in separate incidents on the same day.
Relatives of both men and hundreds of uniformed and retired police officers gathered to mark the 25th anniversary of the slayings. As they do every year, the throngs marched from Public School 48, the Police Officer Michael Buzcek School, to St. Elizabeth’s Church, for a memorial service.
