NYPD sends message with arrest of cop-killer suspect, with officers slapping slain cop’s cuffs on career criminal

The arrest of a career criminal in the callous killing of an off-duty Brooklyn police officer came with a pointed message from his NYPD colleagues.

The officers taking suspect Randy “Popper” Jones into custody slapped the handcuffs once used by Officer Adeed Fayaz on his wrists when arresting the suspect for the Saturday night shooting of the five-year veteran and father of two young children.

“We wanted him to know what he did to that officer,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig at a Tuesday news conference. “And that officer’s cuffs went on him. I think it sends a powerful message.”

Jones was charged with murder and attempted robbery Tuesday evening at the NYPD’s 75th Precinct stationhouse, cops said.

As he was led from the precinct to face a judge in Brooklyn Criminal Court, hundreds of officers lined the street.

Jones’ sister called out to him as detectives put him in the back of a police car.

“We love you,” she shouted. “We’ll love you forever.”

“I know, I love you too,” Jones replied, his wrists and ankles shackled.

With a rap sheet dating back to 2008, he was arrested Monday for for allegedly blasting the 66th Precinct officer on a desolate street in East New York after luring the off-duty cop there with the bogus Facebook Marketplace offer of a car for sale last Saturday, authorities said.

The 26-year-old officer died Tuesday after being shot in the head during a furious exchange of gunfire in the robbery. Fayaz’s brother-in-law used the victim’s gun to shoot at the fleeing Jones, according to Essig.

Jones, 38, was tracked to a hotel in Rockland County and arrested Monday in front of his girlfriend and five children, ages 6 months to 11 years old. Once in custody, the officers cuffed the suspect with Fayaz’s handcuffs, said Essig, with authorities citing his lengthy rap sheet, including 13 prior New York City arrests.

The officer and his brother-in-law arrived in separate vehicles to meet the shooter a day after Fayaz postponed a Friday meeting to purchase a Honda Pilot for $24,000, he said. The officer was feeling under the weather but arrived Saturday around 6:50 p.m. to close the deal.

Jones steered the pair to an alley before asking “Are you guys carrying a gun?” and placing the officer in a headlock, Essig said at a Tuesday morning press conference at NYPD headquarters.

Jones, in a black jacket and gray sweatpants, pointed his gun at the officer’s head and demanded his money. Fayaz broke free when the would-be bandit aimed his weapon at the brother-in-law, Essig said.

Jones then allegedly shot Fayaz in the head while firing off a half-dozen bullets. The brother-in-law grabbed the wounded cop’s weapon from his hip and returned fire five times without hitting the shooter.

According to Essig, the suspect fled the scene in a black BMW belonging to his mother.

Jones was expected to face charges of attempted murder and robbery at his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court, police sources said, with his appearance still pending Tuesday evening.

“We are deeply grateful to our detective brothers and sisters for painstakingly piecing this case together and tracking this vicious criminal to his hiding place,” said Police Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch.

“Now, the justice system needs to step up and deliver consequences,” he added. “It needs to send a message to anyone else who would attack police officers or innocent New Yorkers.”

Jones was previously arrested for for strangulation, grand larceny and aggravated harassment, with most of the arrests dating to his early 20s and occurring in Brooklyn, a source told the Daily News. He also pleaded guilty to “carnal knowledge” of an underaged teen in Virginia back in 2015, court documents showed.

In 2014, he was arrested for strangulation in the 25th Precinct in his East Harlem neighborhood. Jones was busted that same year on two counts of grand larceny and one count of petty larceny, while his more recent arrests included criminal contempt and driving without a license in 2019.

The defendant’s first known arrests were for drug possession and criminal trespass, according to the source.

On Tuesday, Jones’ abandoned getaway BMW was found on 129th St. and Park Ave. in Manhattan, just a few blocks from his most recent address where he lived with his girlfriend and kids.

“I would have never guessed it,” a stunned neighbor said of Jones. “He was never violent.”

After detectives identified Jones as the shooter, cops scoured the apartment building, accessing its surveillance cameras.

“The police were here all day tracing his movements from the building video,” said the neighbor, who wished not to be named. “We didn’t know it was a cop [he had shot].”

After his arrest, he was taken to the NYPD’s

With Harry Parker