NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie cop Eddie Byrne was alone in a squad car on a cold February night in 1988, protecting the home of a witness in a drug case who had been threatened by dealers. It was about 3 a.m. when the gun flashed — five bullets were pumped into his head.

Byrne wasn’t caught in the crossfire of a shootout and he wasn’t being robbed — he was killed because he was a cop. Days earlier, a powerful drug dealer had ordered a hit from jail on any cop as payback for his arrest and offered $8,000 as a reward.