Man Who Killed 2 NYPD Cops Was Owings Mills Shooting Suspect: Reports

The man who killed two NYPD officers Saturday afternoon before shooting himself was also the suspect in an Owings Mills shooting Saturday morning, Baltimore County police reported.

Baltimore County authorities were sending a flyer alerting New York law enforcement and other agencies to be on the lookout for Ismaaiyl Abdula Brinsley, 28, but “tragically, this was essentially at the same time as our officers were being ambushed,” said NYPD Commissioner William Bratton at a press conference broadcast by ABC Saturday night.

Just before 3 p.m. Saturday, two officers were sitting in a marked police car eating lunch in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn when the suspect came up to their police car and shot them both in the head, according to Bed-Stuy Patch. They were taken to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

“Quite simply,” Bratton said, they were “assassinated.”

After shooting two officers in the head, Brinsley went to a nearby subway station and shot himself, according to Bratton.

Related: Two NYPD Officers Dead After Ambush Shooting in Bed-Stuy

Brinsley’s latest residence was in Georgia, but Saturday morning he was in Maryland, where he shot his former girlfriend at her Owings Mills residence, the commissioner said.

In the Owings Mills shooting, the suspect shot a woman he knew in the abdomen before 6 a.m. then left the scene, according to Baltimore County police, who said she was expected to survive.

Related: Owings Mills Shooting Under Investigation

The victim’s mother told police that Brinsley was posting on the victim’s Instagram account, according to Bratton.

A man believed to be the shooter posted a photo of a gun on Instagram with a message that included references to Eric Garner and Michael Brown, two civilians killed by police in recent months, stating that he planned to ”take 2 of theirs,” AOL reported. The Instagram account has since been taken down.

Baltimore County police were alerting New York officials but it was “tragically” too late, Bratton said.

Brinsley had connections to the East Flatbush area of Brooklyn, according to the police commissioner.

Saturday’s shootings marked the first line-of-duty deaths in the NYPD since 2011, according to the New York Times. Bratton said that seven times since 1972, the NYPD has seen partners murdered together.

Authorities urged anyone who learns of violent threats to report them immediately.

The Baltimore County Police Department said Saturday night that its investigation into Brinsley was ongoing.

Screenshot of crime scene in New York from MSNBC/YouTube.