UPDATED Saturday, December 20, 2014 at 8:39 p.m., E.T. – The victims have been identified as New York Police Department Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, according to Associated Press. Before killing them, Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot and wounded his former girlfriend in the Baltimore area prior to the execution-style shootings of Ramos and Liu. She was not killed, as previously reported in this post. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder denounced the killings as “an unspeakable act of barbarism,” and vowed, “I will make available all of the resources of the Department [of Justice] to aid the NYPD in investigating this tragedy.”
Earlier:
A lone gunman shot and killed two uniformed NYPD officers Saturday afternoon as they sat in their police car on a Brooklyn street corner — in what investigators are alleging was an “execution-style mission” to avenge Eric Garner and Michael Brown,” according to the New York Post
Brown and Garner were two unarmed black men killed by the police, and whose deaths sparked nation wide protests.
The killer, who allegedly shot and wounded his girlfriend earlier that morning in Baltimore, walked up alongside a parked police car, and shot into it. He then ran from the bloody scene and down onto a subway platform, where he turned the gun on himself as police closed in on him.
Although the suspect’s name has not been officially released, reports have identified him as Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28. The Post released screenshots of the alleged gunman’s Instagram account, which read in part, “I’m Putting Wings on Pigs Today.”
The IG post included an image of silver automatic handgun with a wooden handle. “They Take 1 Of Ours … Let’s Take 2 of Theirs,” the post continued. #ShootThePolice #RIPErivGarner [sic] #RIPMikeBrown, and finally, “This May Be My Final Post. I’m Putting Pigs In a Blanket.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has worked closely with both the Brown and Garner family, released a statement a few hours after the murders via his National Action Network:
“I have spoken to the Garner family and we are outraged by the early reports of the police killed in Brooklyn today. Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases.
We have stressed at every rally and march that anyone engaged in any violence is an enemy to the pursuit of justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown. We have been criticized at National Action Network for not allowing rhetoric or chanting of violence and would abruptly denounce it at all of our gatherings. The Garner family and I have always stressed that we do not believe that all police are bad, in fact we have stressed that most police are not bad.
We plan to hold a press conference in the morning to express our outrage and our condolences to the families and the police department. Details to follow.”
The Post quoted witnesses on the scene of the crime said, and one, Derrick McKie, 49 was quoted as saying, “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 at, all I could see was blood. His body was lifeless.”
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Gunman Allegedly Kills Cops As Revenge For Garner, Brown Deaths was originally published on newsone.com
