NYPD Officers 'Assassinated' in Apparent Revenge Shooting Over Police Violence

By Ryan Bonner (Patch National Staff)

The Dec. 20 murder of two New York city police officers has unleashed an outpouring of horrified outrage across the region.

“The murders of the two New York City police officers is a horrific crime against our society and the values we cherish,“ said Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. “ My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these fallen heroes. The people of Westchester stand in sorrow with every New Yorker and solidarity with the NYPD and all police officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe.”

“The thoughts and prayers of all New Yorkers are with the family and friends of New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were assassinated in the line of duty,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “This deplorable act of violence is the opposite of what New York is and what New Yorkers believe in. These brave officers, along with the over 34,000 other uniformed men and women of the New York Police Department, put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe. They run toward danger when all of our instincts tell us to run away. Tonight, we all come together to mourn the loss of these brave souls.”

Malice was the driving force for the Baltimore man who did the shooting.

He wrote on Instagram ”I’m Putting Wings On Pigs Today” hours before he ambushed and fatally shot two NYPD officers as they sat in a patrol car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn Saturday afternoon, possibly in revenge for a spate of police violence in New York and other parts of the country.

Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were sitting in a patrol car at the intersection of Myrtle and Tompkins avenues at about 2:50 p.m. when 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley opened fire, striking both of the officers in the head, NYPD Commissioner William J. Bratton said.

On Instagram, next to a photo of silver handgun, Brinsley reportedly wrote: “I’m Putting Wings On Pigs Today. They Take 1 Of Ours…Let’s Take 2 of Theirs.”

The post includes the hashtags “ShootThePolice,” “RIP ErivGardner” and ”RIPMikeBrown,” referencing the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Mike Brown in Missouri. The post ends with: ““This May Be My Final Post...I’m Putting Pigs In A Blanket.”

As in many large U.S. cities, New York has been the scene of repeated protests against police violence in recent weeks. Most have come since a grand jury declined to indict in the case of Garner, a black man who was stopped by police for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes in Staten Island. He died after an officer put him in a chokehold.

Brinsley, a reported gang member in Baltimore, ran to the Myrtle/Willoughby subway station following the shooting Saturday and killed himself with a gunshot to the head as cops closed in.

“Two of New York’s finest shot and killed with no warning, no provocation,” Bratton said during a press conference at Woodhull Medical Center Saturday night. “They were quite simply assassinated. Targeted for their uniform and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe.”

The violence started in in Owing Mills, Md., just outside Baltimore, Saturday morning when Brinsley ”seriously wounded” his ex-girlfriend at 5:45 a.m., Bratton said.

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Brinsley then began posting on his ex-girlfriend’s Instagram account and headed to New York, Bratton said.

Liu, 32, and Ramos, 40, were stationed in front of 98 Tompkins Avenue when Brinsley ”took a shooting stance” on the passenger side of the patrol car and fired several times, hitting both officers in the head, Bratton said.

Liu and Ramos, who were members of the 84 Precinct but were patrolling the 79th Precinct as part of a crime reduction strategy in the area, never had a chance to draw their weapons, Bratton said.

A fax sent from Baltimore police to the NYPD warning them about Brinsley came in at 2:45 p.m.

“Tragically, this was at essentially the same time they were being ambushed,” Bratton said of Liu and Ramos, who are the seventh pair of NYPD partners to be murdered together since 1972.

NYPD officers turned their backs to Mayor Bill de Blasio as he walked into Woodhull Medical Center Saturday night, according to a PIX 11 video. The mayor has been accusedof fostering “anti-police sentiment” in the city.

During the press conference, de Blasio called the shooting “an attack on all of us.”

“Our city is in mourning,” he said. ”Our hearts are heavy. We lost two good men, who devoted their lives to protecting all of us. Officer Ramos and Officer Liu died in the line of duty, protecting the city they loved.”

Photo: Screenshot/CBS 2 report