Man Who Shot Massapequa Officer Found Guilty Of Murder: DA

A Queens Village man was recently convicted for the 2015 murder of NYPD officer Brian Moore and the attempted murder of officer Erik Jansen, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Demetrius Blackwell, 37, was found guilty of first degree murder, first degree attempted murder and second degree criminal possession of a weapon after a three-week jury trial, the DA said.

He will be sentenced on December 12. Blackwell faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“The evidence of the defendant’s guilt presented at trial was truly overwhelming. The jury fairly weighed all the evidence offered by both sides before concluding– unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt – that the defendant deliberately fired a weapon at the two police officers without provocation or warning, killing one of them," Brown said. "It is likely that he will never again taste another day of freedom."

In 2015, Massapequa native Moore, 25, and his partner, Jansen, then 30, were on patrol when they saw Blackwell, then 35, adjusting something on his waistband in Queens. The two plainclothes officers rode alongside him in their police vehicle to question him. When Moore said, “Police, you got something?” Blackwell responded, “Yeah, I got something,” according to the DA.

He then removed an unlicensed five-shot silver revolver from his waistband and fired three shots at the two officers, striking Moore twice in the head. The third bullet, which was intended for Jansen, struck a nearby house.

Sometime between firing the gun and his arrest later that day, Blackwell stopped at a nearby house, where he got rid of his weapon and stole a tee shirt and a pair of sneakers in order to change his appearance, the DA said. When Blackwell was caught hours after the shooting, he had small amounts of cocaine and marijuana.

The weapon used in the shooting was found two days later and DNA evidence discovered on it linked Blackwell to the weapon, as well as to the two unfired bullets found in the chamber.

Moore, who died two days after the shooting, was posthumously promoted to Detective First Grade and Jansen is now with the Suffolk County Police Department.

"Our sympathies go out to Officer Brian Moore’s family for the loss of their loved one and the prolonged pain that they and Officer Erik Jansen and his family have had to endure as this case made its way through the criminal justice system," Brown said. "Although the verdict cannot bring back Brian I hope that today’s conviction brings a sense of closure and comfort to his family, friends and colleagues, knowing that his killer finally has been held accountable for his heinous and cowardly act.”

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