In-class assignment

At 4:08 p.m. Sunday, New York City Police Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, assigned to the Narcotics Division, shot and killed a suspected assassin, Pierre Jeantot, 36, of Nice, France. Four others were killed during the incident.

Jeantot was allegedly working on behalf of a French drug kingpin whom Doyle and his partner, Buddy “Cloudy” Russo, had been investigating. He was killed by one shot from Doyle’s .38 caliber service revolver at the bottom of the steps to the platform of the 15^th St. elevated railway station. A .44 Magnum revolver was recovered from the train.

According to the police investigation, the events unfolded from the roof of an apartment building at 1767 W. 57th Ave.

Four shots were fired. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

Doyle hit the ground with his brown leather briefcase in hand, scurrying across the ground dodging the bullets shelled from above. Some people shriek hitting the ground in defense, babies cry, and others run away from the scene.

Robert Wilson, 29, sitting at a park bench close by reading the daily paper witnessed the entire scene from an angle of the ground.

 Quickly, Doyle found his .38 caliber service revolver from the pocket of his trench coat. Proceeding away from the sight of the assassin, Doyle covered ground against the apartment building.

Pursuing the suspect from the 35^th St. Station, Doyle ended the chase at the 15^th St. Station. Jeantot had hijacked the train, killing three people, while Doyle chased the train in a commanded car.

The three victims that were fatally killed on the train were Roland Evans, 34, of Brooklyn, a 15-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, Horatio C. Hornblower, 30,  a conductor of the hijacked train, of White Plains, Peter Howe, 27, a trainman, of Queens, who died of a heart attack at the controls.

“Let me just say it is always unfortunate when these incidents end in a loss of life,” Ruth L. Ess, the New York City Police commissioner said. “We would have preferred to see Jeantot prosecuted in the courts, and we believe Doyle was close to a breakthrough in the case.”

The fourth victim of the chase came at the beginning, when Jeantot had fired several shots at Doyle from the roof of an apartment building at 1767 W. 57^th Ave. One of the shots directly hit Betty B. Badluck, 63, of the Bronx who was a pedestrian walking her granddaughter near Doyle’s apartment.

Ess, suggests that Jeantot had been assigned to assassinate Doyle. Police officers recovered an automatic rifle and several shell castings from the roof of the apartment building.

“We commend Dective Doyle for his bravery and quick thinking under very trying circumstances,” Ess said. “We will continue a vigorous and thorough investigation into what appears to be a major smuggling operation. We will not sit while drug dealers walk our streets.”