The simmering cold war involving the NYPD and various elements of New York's population just went nuclear when a little before 3:00 PM, reports hit that two NYPD officers were shot in their patrol car, and subsequently died, in what has been dubbed an "execution style" ambush in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy area. The alleged shooter was chased by police and subsequently died of a self-inflicted gun wound.
Two Police Officers have been shot in the 79 pct. please pray for them
— NYPD 121st Precinct (@NYPD121Pct) December 20, 2014 [5]
According to Fox both officers died from [6]gunshot wounds, citing city councilman Robert Cornegy. As RT reports [7], the shooting took place in Brooklyn outside of the Tompkins Houses at around 3pm. The shooter reportedly came out of the building before shooting the officers patrolling the area.
The suspect reportedly fled into a subway station where officers found him suffering from a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to the Times.
The manager of a nearby liquor store told the Times that he saw the officers hunched over in their cruiser and said at least one of them looked like they were shot in the head.
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A possible suspect on a stretcher at the scene via the NYP [10].
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NYC: Man who murdered 2 NYPD cops killed his girlfriend in Baltimore this morning Picture from his Instagram Page pic.twitter.com/PFbogbCicQ [13]
— NY Scanner (@NYScanner) December 20, 2014 [14]
Screengrabs from the alleged shooter's instagram page [15]
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The wounded officers were rushed to Woodhull Hospital in “grave” condition as at least one of them was hit in the head. The New York Post [10]further reports that that both officers were shot in the head at point-blank range.
“It’s an execution,” a law enforcement source told The Post about the ambush.
Based to preliminary reports, the uniformed officers were working overtime as part of an anti-terrorism drill as they sat in their marked police car on a Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, street corner.
As the NYT's David Goodman reports, the name of the shooter appears to have leaked and it is Ismail Brinsley (this is unconfirmed by the NYPD).
Both officers now dead; suspect identified by a senior police official as 28-yr-old named Brinsley. First name Ismail or Ishmael
— jdavidgoodman (@jdavidgoodman) December 20, 2014 [17]
NYPD officers murdered identified as Wenjian Lieu and Rafael Ramos.
— Rochelle Ritchie (@RochelleWJZ) December 21, 2014 [18]
Some more details about the shooter and his motives from the NY Post [10]:
“I’m Putting Wings on Pigs Today,” a person believed to be the gunman wrote on Instagram in a message posted just three hours before the officers were shot through their front passenger window.
The post included an image of silver automatic handgun with a wooden handle. Another post showed camouflage pants and blue sneakers which matched the clothing the dead gunman was wearing as his body was carried from the scene on a stretcher.
“They Take 1 Of Ours … Let’s Take 2 of Theirs,” the post continued, signing off with, “This May Be My Final Post.”
The gunman was a fugitive who had just murdered his girlfriend in Baltimore Saturday morning, sources told The Post.
From the NYT [19]:
Chief Royster said the suspect opened fire on the police officers, ran up Myrtle and went into a subway station. The man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Chief Royster said.
Fire Department officials said that a 911 call came in around 2:50 p.m. reporting that two people had been shot.
Charlie Hu, the manager of a liquor store at the same corner, said he saw two police officers slouched over in the front seat of their patrol car. At least one of the officers, Mr. Hu said, appeared to have been shot in the head.
The last officer killed by gunfire in the line of duty was Peter Figoski in 2011.
More details on the shooting [10]:
Minutes after shooting the two officers, he, too, was dead. He fled to a nearby subway station, the G-train station at Myrtle and Willoughby avenues, where, as pursuing cops closed in, he shot himself on a crowded platform, sources told The Post.
“They engaged the guy and he did himself,” one investigator said of the gunman’s demise.
Both shooting scenes — above and below ground — were scenes of blood and terror.
“I heard shooting, — four or five shots,” ear-witness Derrick McKie, 49, told The Post of the cops’ tragic murder. “It sounded like from a single gun,” he said. Ambulances and police cars rushed to the scene, he said. “I seen them putting the cop in the ambulance. He looked messed up,” McKie, a barber, added. “He took a high caliber weapon to the face. He was lifeless…I couldn’t see where the holes was that, all I could see was blood. His body was lifeless.”
Modal Trigg Carmen Jimenez, 32, a social worker from Bedford-Stuyvesant, was on the subway platform when the gunman ran inside, pursued by officers.
“Everything happened so quick,” said Jimenez, who is eight months pregnant. “We were standing waiting for the G train. We heard arguing from the other end of the platform.
It looked like two cops came in there was lots of yelling and they said, ‘Everybody get down.’
Scenes from the daylight execution:
Photos from the scene:
#NYPD [20] @NYPDnews [21] pic.twitter.com/3nzh3IFabp [22]
— Silver Surfer (@RobPulseNews) December 20, 2014 [23]
DETAILS: 2 #NYPD [20] cops shot ‘execution style’ in #Brooklyn [24], shooter reportedly dead http://t.co/36I02NkB8H [25] pic.twitter.com/0KfLULomQM [26]
— RT (@RT_com) December 20, 2014 [27]
Witnesses say cops were shot in their car @ABC7NY [28] pic.twitter.com/FzkePufUkL [29]
— Renee Stoll (@ReneeStollABC7) December 20, 2014 [30]
at the corner of Tompkins and Vernon pic.twitter.com/kRiaZLo7q7 [31]
— ?_? (@MikeIsaac) December 20, 2014 [32]
A live webcast from the scene of the crime is available below:
NY Mayor de Blasio holds a live press conference:
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Mayor @BilldeBlasio [34] on deadly attack on NYC police officers: "It is an attack on all of us." http://t.co/zjdt2FiVvM [35] pic.twitter.com/jY167wTz0x [36]
— CBSN (@CBSNLive) December 21, 2014 [37]
