Man Who Killed NYPD Officer After Taking Sunglasses from Store Released After Serving 40 Years in Prison

A man who was convicted of killing a police officer after taking a pair of sunglasses from a store in 1985 has been released on parole — and the late officer’s family said the news “hits you in the gut.”

After serving 40 years following a first-degree murder conviction, Lee Walker was released on parole from the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, according to records from the state’s Department of Corrections.

The New York Post reported that Walker, 67, was charged with killing New York Police Department (NYPD) Officer Juan Andino on June 15, 1984, while being questioned over the theft of a pair of Cazal sunglasses in the Bronx.

According to archives from The New York Times, Walker was sentenced to life in prison in July 1985, after a State Supreme Court jury found him guilty of first-degree murder over Andino’s death.

Per the Times, which at the time cited trial testimony, Walker was accused of taking a pair of sunglasses from the store before the owner asked the NYPD officer to investigate.

Walker, per the report, then shot the officer, before another officer, Sharon Fields, arrived at the scene and shot the suspect twice.

Andino was later taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where former Mayor Ed Koch and Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward were present, alongside his mother, Andino’s family told The New York Post.

Felix Andino, the brother of the late officer, told The New York Post that the news of Walker’s release “hits you in the gut.”

“That was a very, very bad time for the whole family,” his other brother Angel Andino added to the outlet.

According to the Vera Institute of Justice, between 10,000 and 12,000 people appear before the parole board in New York State each year.

Per release rate stats, there were 2,528 total releases in 2023 (38.5%), compared to 1,943 in 2022 (33.3%). 2024, meanwhile, has been tracked up through the year’s third quarter so far.