Christopher G. Hoban (May 7, 1962 – October 18, 1988) was a
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
officer who, while working
undercover
To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...
, was killed in the line of duty.
Early life
Hoban was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York, on May 7, 1962. He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School and
Xaverian High School
Xaverian High School is a private Catholic high school located in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, serving grades 6 through 12. Grades 9-12 offer a college prep program and grades 6-8 are a middle school.
History
The school was ...
in Brooklyn, and graduated from
John Jay College
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts co ...
in Manhattan in 1984.
He lived with his parents, Catina and Martin Hoban and brothers, Martin and Tommy.
Career
Hoban served on the NYC Police Department for four years. He was assigned to Manhattan North Narcotics, and his shield number was 25547. In less than four years service he received four commendations for his work.
On October 18, 1988, at 7:00 P.M., Hoban and another undercover police narcotics officer, Michael Jermyn, entered an apartment on West 105th Street in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, ostensibly to make a narcotics purchase along with two suspects. Upon entry into the apartment, they encountered a third suspect. During the transaction the suspects began to suspect officer's Hoban and Jermyn were police officers and demanded to search officer Jermyn and discovered his service weapon. Officer Hoban drew his sidearm and, in the ensuing close-quarters shootout, Hoban was killed by gunshot wounds to the chest and head. One of the suspects was also killed at the scene by Hoban, while a second was immediately apprehended by officers waiting outside the building.
That evening another NYPD officer, Michael Buczek, was killed while trying to arrest two suspects on a drugs charge in apartment building at 580 West 161st Street in Washington Heights in Manhattan.
It was the first time in the history of the NYPD that two officers were killed in separate incidents on the same night. Hoban and Buczek did not know each other, but they held a joint funeral Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn on October 22, 1988. Twelve thousand officers and nearly 8,000 civilians attended the joint funeral.
The drug dealer that fired the shots that killed Hoban was arrested in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
nine days after the shooting by the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
. In 1990, Bienvenido Castillo, 25, was found guilty of killing a police officer and sentenced to 57 years and 2 months in jail. He will not be eligible for parole until he is 82 years old. The two other suspects were both sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for their roles in the murder.
Memorials
Every September since 1989, Hoban is remembered in
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...
and his alma mater,
Xaverian High School
Xaverian High School is a private Catholic high school located in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, serving grades 6 through 12. Grades 9-12 offer a college prep program and grades 6-8 are a middle school.
History
The school was ...
with the Chris Hoban five mile run. The proceeds from the run fund the Hoban Scholarship at Xaverian High School which provides tuition assistance to children of police officers.
In October 1996, New York City Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
renamed 71st Street between Narrows Avenue and Shore Road to Chris Hoban Way. The street is adjacent to Xaverian High School where Hoban attended high school.
He has been commemorated at various times at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and also in NYPD memorials.
In October 2008, twenty years after the deaths of Hoban and Buczek, they were honored at a memorial Mass at St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church.
The NYPD named a