Off-Duty Officer Killed by Police in Harlem

It's always a shock when a policeman is killed, especially when he's killed by another officer. Omar J. Edwards, 25, who had been on the force two years, was coming off work at the 25th Precinct house in East Harlem and was in plain clothes when he found the window of his car smashed in and a guy rummaging through the vehicle. He chased the guy up the street, gun drawn, and was noticed by other officers, one of whom, a four-year veteran, shot him dead. The commissioner says the officer fired six times. Edwards did not return fire.

"A police official said officers at the scene learned that Officer Edwards was a colleague only when they ripped open his shirt in an effort to revive him and saw a Police Academy T-shirt," says the Times. As only the Daily News makes clear in the headline, Edwards is black and the unnamed officer who shot him is white.