“On this day in 1916, 19th Precinct Patrolman William McAuliffe, was shot and killed while walking his beat on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 67th Street,” the NYPD’s 19th Precinct shared on Twitter/X on Tuesday, March 18. “Patrolman McAuliffe will never be forgotten. Fidelis Ad Mortem.”
c/o NYPD 19th Precinct
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, “The suspect, who was waiting in the gutter at the location, emerged with a revolver drawn and shot Patrolman McAuliffe in the back four times. The motive is unknown.”
Hailing from Blarney in Cork City, Ireland, Patrolman McAuliffe had been with the NYPD for six years and had been assigned to the 31st Precinct (which is now the 19th Precinct).
The street was co-named Patrolman William McAuliffe Way at a ceremony in 2023.
c/o Officer Down Memorial Page
“We knew all about him, always,” McAuliffe’s great-grandniece, Helen Mulcahy, told The Irish Echo at the time.
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Here are two photos taken of East 67th Street and Second Avenue in 1920, courtesy of the New York Library Digital Collections:
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