On a cold November evening in Long Branch, New Jersey, a dedicated police officer's life was tragically cut short in a calculated act of violence. Detective Sergeant Patrick A. King, a 45-year-old male and a 22-year veteran of the Long Branch Police Department, was on his dinner break on November 20, 1997. He was standing at the counter of a local Chinese restaurant, waiting for his food, when a man walked up behind him and shot him twice in the back of the head.
The killer was a
fugitive wanted by the FBI for a murder in Massachusetts the previous year. Having learned that federal agents were closing in on him, the suspect had vowed not to be taken alive and had set out with the intention of killing police officers. In the moments leading up to the attack on Sergeant King, the suspect had made two 911 calls in an attempt to lure an officer to the area, a chilling prelude to the tragedy that would unfold.
After fatally shooting Sergeant King, the suspect stole the officer's service weapon and patrol car. He used the police radio to taunt other officers before abandoning the vehicle and carjacking two other cars. This initiated a frantic 50-mile high-speed chase involving both Long Branch police and New Jersey State Police. The pursuit came to a dramatic and violent end on the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to New York City.
After crashing the final stolen vehicle on the bridge, the suspect engaged in a gunfight with the pursuing officers. During the shootout, a Port Authority police officer was accidentally wounded by a state trooper. Cornered and with no escape, the suspect who had murdered Sergeant King then took his own life, using the fallen officer's stolen weapon. The perpetrator acted alone, and with his suicide, the immediate search for a suspect in Sergeant King's murder came to a close.
