Clifford Glover (1962-1973) was a ten-year-old Black boy who was fatally shot by a white police officer. At ten years old, he was the youngest person killed by an NYC police officer.

On the morning of April 28, 1973, Clifford (known as “Cliffie” to friends and family), a fourth-grader at P.S. 40, was accompanying his stepfather Add Armstead to his job at a junkyard. As they were walking, a car pulled up to them, and two plainclothes police officers emerged, looking for robbery suspects. Clifford and Armstead ran away, fearing they would be robbed (Armstead was carrying the wages he had been paid the previous day). One of the officers, Thomas Shea, shot and killed Clifford in the back. Despite Clifford being four feet, eleven inches tall and weighing fewer than one hundred pounds, Shea claimed not to have realized that Clifford was a child. He also claimed that Clifford pointed a gun at him; however, investigators found no weapon when they searched the area. Clifford became the youngest person ever killed by an NYPD officer, and his death sparked protests across South Jamaica. Shea stood trial for his murder a year later but was found not guilty by the jury.

Half a century after Clifford’s death, in the spring of 2023, the intersection where he was killed was co-named in his honor in a ceremony attended by prominent political leaders, clergy, criminal justice reformers, and Clifford’s family.