Gunman made online threats before killing police officers
Print Edition
A GUNMAN who vowed online to shoot two “pigs” in retaliation for the police chokehold death of Eric Garner ambushed two New York City officers in a patrol car and fatally shot them in broad daylight before running to a subway station and killing himself.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, wrote on an Instagram account before Saturday’s shootings: “I’m putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let’s take 2 of theirs.”
Police said Brinsley approached the passenger window of a marked police car and opened fire, striking officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in the head. The officers were on special patrol doing crime reduction work in a Brooklyn neighborhood.
“They were, quite simply, assassinated — targeted for their uniform,” said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
The killings stunned the city, prompted a response from vacationing President Barack Obama and escalated weeks of simmering ill will between police and their critics following grand jury decisions not to indict officers in the deaths of Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Missouri.
Garner and Brown were black; the officers who killed them are white.
Demonstrators around the country have staged die-ins and other protests following the grand jury decisions. The New York police union head declared there’s “blood on the hands” of protesters and the city’s mayor.
Brinsley took off running after the shooting. Officers chased him down to a nearby subway station, where he shot himself in the head as a subway train door full of people closed. A silver handgun was recovered at the scene, Bratton said.
“This may be my final post,” Brinsley wrote in the post that included an image of a silver handgun. The post had more than 200 likes, but also had many others admonishing his statements.
Bratton said the suspect made very serious “anti-police” statements online, but did not get into specifics of the posts.
Brown’s family condemned the shooting in a statement posted online by their attorney.
“We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement. It cannot be tolerated. We must work together to bring peace to our communities,” the family said.
Most of the protests have been peaceful, particularly in New York. Bratton said police were investigating whether Brinsley had attended any rallies or demonstrations and why he had chosen to kill the officers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said their killings struck at the heart of the city.
“Our city is in mourning. Our hearts are heavy,” said de Blasio.
Obama issued a statement unconditionally condemning the slayings.
“The officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day — and they deserve our respect and gratitude every single day,” he said. “I ask people to reject violence and words that harm, and turn to words that heal — prayer, patient dialogue, and sympathy for the friends and family of the fallen.”
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