Det. Sean Carrington was born and raised in New York City. He completed two years at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice before joining the Department of Correction in 1989. He was appointed to the NYPD on February 20, 1994, and was first appointed to the Housing Division. He later transferred to Narcotics where he was promoted to Detective on September 25, 1997.
On January 19, 1998, while investigating the homicide of a pair of drug dealers whose bodies were dumped in the confines of the 45 Precinct, Det. Carrington was part of a Narcotics team who went into a building in the 46 Precinct where drug dealers were known to have been arrested numerous times. After an Undercover successfully completed a buy, two ghosts, Detectives Sean Carrington and Louis Robinson, went into the building and were challenged by two vicious perps. Suddenly, shots rang out. The field team outside the building saw an elderly resident unlock the door, and Det. Thomas Reilly of the team rushed inside. But the apartment building’s double doors locked out the rest of the team.
One of the perpetrators, Leon Smith, had shot Det. Carrington three times and Det. Robinson once in the hip. Two perps opened fire at the responding Det. Reilly, who chased Smith up three flights of stairs until the perp collapsed. During the melee, 25 shots had been fired at Reilly, all of which miraculously missed him. He squeezed off 17 at Smith, killing the parolee who had killed Carrington. Robinson was saved as the bullet that hit him deflected off his radio.
The second shooter, Maurice Bolling, fled to an apartment, and later Virginia, but was captured on an old 1992 warrant and eventually confessed. He should have been in prison at the time of the shooting, but had been out on parole, which prompted much political discourse about early parole: a conversation that had been echoed in previous generations and is still going on today.
During Medal Day 1999, the Department’s top accolade, the Medal of Honor, was awarded to both Det. Reilly and posthumously to Det. Carrington. Robinson received the Medal of Valor. Det. Carrington received a hero’s funeral and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Carrington was survived by his mother, his daughter, and many grieving family, friends, and colleagues who remembered the 28-year-old Detective for his engaging smile and warm heart.
On May 24, 2018, a street was renamed for Det. Sean Carrington at Andrews Avenue South and Tenney Place in the confines of the 46 Precinct in The Bronx.
Click on the pdf file links below to read more from The Gold Shield, June 1998 issue.
