Long Branch Police Department, New Jersey
End of Watch: Thursday, November 20, 1997
Age: 45
Tour of Duty: 22 years
Badge Number: 167
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: November 20, 1997
Weapon Used: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect Info: Committed suicide
Sergeant Patrick King was shot and killed by a wanted murderer who had been arrested by the same agency two weeks earlier under an alias.
Sergeant King was on his meal break and had just ordered food at a local restaurant. Unknown to Sergeant King, the suspect had called 911 twice in the preceding few minutes in an attempt to lure a police officer to the area. The suspect was wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a murder he had committed in Massachusetts in 1996. After learning that the FBI was searching for him, the suspect vowed that he would not go to prison and decided to kill as many police officers as he could before killing himself.
As Sergeant King was standing at the counter of the restaurant waiting for his order, the suspect walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head twice with a .38 caliber handgun. The suspect then took Sergeant King's service weapon and stole his patrol car. He then used the patrol car's radio to taunt other officers.
The suspect then car-jacked two separate cars and led New Jersey State Police and other Long Branch police officers on a 50-mile high speed chase that ended on the George Washington Bridge between New Jersey and New York City, New York. After crashing his vehicle on the bridge the man engaged other officers in a gunfight before committing suicide with Sergeant King's weapon.
A police officer from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department was accidentally shot and wounded by a New Jersey State Police trooper during the shootout on the bridge.
Sergeant King had served with the Long Branch Police Department for 22 years. He is survived by his wife and two sons.