On Friday, January 20, 1989, P. O. William Gunn, assigned as a “white shield” with the 67 Precinct Detective Unit, along with other plain-clothed colleagues, were investigating two murder cases when they arrived at the home of a man wanted in connection to the slayings. At the Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building, as the Officers walked up a stairwell to the subject’s apartment, the subject opened the door and opened fire, wounding Det. Luis Rango in the shoulder. Officer Gunn ran to assist his colleague and was shot in the head by the perp.
The shooter, 20-year-old Ralph Richardson, escaped and hid in a nearby apartment after he wantonly killed the 67-year-old, female occupant. But a week later, after committing several robberies, he attempted to rob a video store. As he entered, he pulled two firearms and announced a stick-up. A patron of the store, off-duty cop Jannet Caban, pulled her own gun and engaged in a shoot-out, wounding Richardson in the right hip. He fled from the store, but later that same night, as police closed in on him, and while in a stolen car on a Brooklyn street, he shot himself in the head.
Officer Gunn, however was in a coma. Despite several surgical attempts to revive him, he remained comatose for almost four years. He never regained consciousness. In April of 1992, Public School 18 in Bellerose, Queens was named in his honor and his colleagues tirelessly raised funds for the family. But, while at the Skilled Nursing Facility of Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream, Long Island, on November 27, 1992, Officer Gunn succumbed to his injuries.
On December 1, 1992, Gunn was given an Inspector’s funeral at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village. He was survived by his wife Lori and young daughter Jennifer, his parents, and two brothers. He was posthumously awarded the NYPD Medal of Honor.
Three years after his death, at the urging of the DEA, on December 20, 1995, Gunn was posthumously promoted to Detective third grade. He had served the Police Department for ten years.
On November 27, 1996, a location on Snyder Avenue in front of the 67 Precinct was renamed Det. William Gunn Place in his honor. On April 16, 2002, the park at Hillside and 235th Court in Queens, NY was dedicated the William T. Gunn Park. On May 18, 2007, a plaque was dedicated for several Officers, including Det. Gunn, at the 67 Precinct. And on October 11, 2025, Abbey Street and Park Boulevard in Massapequa Park, NY was renamed in his honor as well.
Read more about Det. Gunn on the following links:
Willim Gunn — New York’s Finest001
William Gunn – NY Times 1-21-1989
