Responding to a request from NYPD Detective John Bolden (pictured), grandson of murdered NYPD Patrolman Robert Bolden, to help publicize the reward for the arrest and conviction of his grandfather’s killer, the National Police Association announced today it is adding $5,000 to the reward bringing the total to $116,500.
The record reward, payable upon arrest and conviction of Officer Bolden’s killer, includes $25,000 from the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association, $10,000 each from the NYPD Police Benevolent Association, the lieutenants and captains unions, state corrections and PBA, the Detectives’ Endowment Association and Cop Shot Inc., $7,500 from NYPD, with Crime Stoppers and other agencies chipping in $2,500 each.
Robert Bolden, a US Navy veteran assigned to the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn, was shot to death with a sawed-off shotgun shortly after 10 p.m. on Friday Jan. 22, 1971, while off duty. He was shot and killed when he intervened with a man at the request of management at a restaurant at 345 Gold Street. The man pulled out a sawed-off shotgun from under his coat and opened fire on him. Despite being wounded, Patrolman Bolden returned fire before he was struck in the chest and killed. The suspect fled, and was never apprehended. Patrolman Bolden, a fifteen year NYPD veteran, was survived by his wife and three children.
Anyone with information about Bolden’s death should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-8477 (TIPS).
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