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Detective

Ivan G. Lorenzo

New York City Police Department — New York, NY

Felonious

End of Watch May 5, 1971

Age 28

Tour of Duty 6 yrs

Badge 1694

The Vigil Panel 238 · Column 1 · Line 8 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 Department 1,221

Incident

Ivan Lorenzo was appointed to the New York City Police Department on 1 August 1966. He was a detective assigned to Brooklyn North Narcotics.

On 5 May 1971, shortly before 2:00 a.m., Detective Lorenzo and six friends stopped in the Bronx after a birthday party and a reunion of a softball team called The Lions. He went with a female friend into the Sun Bright Bar, beside where his car was parked, so she could use the rest room. She walked into the kitchen by mistake, and a man there spoke sharply to her. The two returned to the car, and Detective Lorenzo then went back into the bar with two other male friends, neither of them police officers, and asked to speak with the man. Without warning, the man drew a gun and shot him in the chest at point-blank range. Detective Lorenzo tried to draw his own gun but was too badly wounded to fire. The gunman forced his friends to the back of the bar and escaped with the detective's off-duty revolver.

Investigators found 14 bricks of heroin in the bar's kitchen and concluded that this had probably led the gunman to open fire, although Detective Lorenzo was off duty and not working undercover. The gunman, a heroin dealer named Harry Richardson, was later caught and indicted.

Detective Lorenzo was 29 years old. He was survived by his widow and their two sons. In June 1972 a plaque in his honor was installed in the 94 Precinct.

Survivors

Detective Lorenzo was survived by his wife and two children.

In Our Keeping

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Detective Lorenzo gave the New York City Police Department 6 years.
Thank you for your service to the New York community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Detective Lorenzo.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department New York City Police Department

Type Police Department

Location New York, NY

Platform Identity nypd.newyork.ny.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch May 5, 1971

Tour of Duty 6 yrs

Age 28

Badge Number 1694

Gender Male

Assignment Brooklyn North Narcotics

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Gun

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Ivan is one of 15,742 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,551 remembered there.

34,102 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 1971, 168 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 18th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Ivan was 28. Of the 14,219 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Ivan had served 6 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death

Where he stood among them

Age by years of service

III

When

May holds 8% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Wednesdays: 12.9%.

By month

By day of the week

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was gun, in 22.8% of these deaths.

Every cause

Weapons recorded