Gun used to shoot and kill NYPD officer was stolen from ex-trooper in South Carolina

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The gun that was used to shoot and kill NYPD officer Randolph Holder was stolen from a former state trooper in South Carolina years ago.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol confirmed Wednesday that the .40 caliber Glock handgun used to be a SCHP service weapon.

According to the patrol, that line of service weapons was transitioned out of service in 2007, sold to a private distributor and the trooper bought it back in 2008 at Lawmen's Safety Supply in Columbia, S.C. That trooper left the South Carolina Highway Patrol in 2009.

Then in 2011, the former trooper reported that the gun was stolen from his car in Marion, South Carolina. A theft report was filed.

Investigators are now tracking the gun's movements from 2011 to 2015, before police said it got into the hands of Tyrone Howard, who is accused of using it to shoot Officer Holder in the head in East Harlem on Oct. 20.

The gun was recovered by NYPD divers early Sunday morning in the Harlem River and then ballistics tests confirmed it was a match to the bullet that struck Holder.