2 Held in Killing of Officer in Drug Case

Two men were arrested and a third was being questioned Friday in the slaying of a rookie police officer who was shot three times in the head as he guarded a witness in a drug case, police said.

Todd Scott and Scott Cobb were charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon after their arrests late Thursday. A third suspect surrendered Friday and was being questioned, Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward said at a news conference.

He said at least one other person was being sought.

Officer Edward Byrne, 22, was shot early Feb. 26 while sitting in a patrol car and guarding the house of a man who had complained to police about crack dealers in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens.

The killing outraged Mayor Edward I. Koch, who called President Reagan a “wimp” in the war on drugs; prompted a roundup of 294 suspected drug dealers, and focused new attention on the city’s drug lords.

A reward fund has grown to $130,000 with a $25,000 contribution from some members of the New York Stock Exchange.