Police say the suspect, Tyrone Howard, a 30-year-old Harlem man, has a history as a career criminal.

Officer Randolph Holder, 33, died a few hours after he was shot in the head during an exchange of gunfire. 

Authorities say Holder and his partner responded to a call of shots fired at around 8:30 p.m. A man had reportedly stolen a bicycle at gunpoint and fled.

Police say Holder and another officer confronted the armed man at East 120th Street and FDR Drive, which resulted in a shootout and a foot chase.

Howard allegedly ran off, but was arrested a few blocks away with a gunshot wound to the leg. Holder was pronounced dead nearly two hours later.

Officials say the bicycle and at least one gun were recovered, and shell casings from as many as three weapons were discovered at the scene.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio say the entire force is in mourning.

"Four police officers murdered in 11 months -- that's about as bad as it gets," Bratton says.

Louis Demarco, who lives on Holder's street, is a retired police officer himself. He says that whenever he hears news of a patrolman's death, whether it be local or across the country, it hits close to home.

"We're the guys that run to problems not away from them," Demarco says. "Here we are trying to help everybody, and we don't know who the bad guys are."

Holder worked in the NYPD division that polices the city's public housing developments. He was a native of Guyana, where his father and grandfather were both police officers.