NYPD Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos Shot And Killed By Gunman While Sitting In Their Patrol Car On Bed Stuy Brooklyn Street Saturday Afternoon - Targeted Because They Were NYPD, Horrible.

The NY Times reports:

Two police officers sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn were shot at point-blank range and killed on Saturday afternoon by a man who, officials said, had traveled to the city from Baltimore vowing to kill officers. The suspect then committed suicide with the same gun, the authorities said.

The officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were in the car near Myrtle and Tompkins Avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the shadow of a tall housing project when the gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, walked up to the passenger-side window and assumed a firing stance, Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said. Mr. Brinsley shot several rounds into the heads and upper bodies of the officers, who never drew their weapons, the authorities said....

Heroes. Always Heroes | Police Officer Rafael Ramos | Police Officer Wenjian Liu | #NYPD pic.twitter.com/egcnOSO6jk
— Steve Weiss (@steveODMP) December 21, 2014

We mourn the loss of NYPD Police Officers Wenjian Liu & Rafael Ramos. Both were shot & killed today while working in Brooklyn.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 21, 2014

NYPD Commissioner William Bratton and NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio had this to say at press conference yesterday about the killing of the two NYPD officers.



Patrolmen Benvolent Association (PBA) President Pat Lynch blamed Mayor de Blasio and:

... those that incited violence on the streets under the guise of protest that tried to tear down what NYPD officers did every day....

for the shooting of the officers.

PBA Pres Pat Lynch: "Those who allowed this to happen will be held accountable." #1010WINS @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/SUauR2n4Dy
— Sonia Rincon (@SoniaRincon) December 21, 2014

Also:

Pat Lynch nodded yes when asked if officers turned their backs to the mayor.
— Danielle Tcholakian (@danielleiat) December 21, 2014

NYPD Chief Of Detectives Robert Boyce gave this briefing on the shooting earlier today



NYC must find a way to heal from this brutal killing of Officers Liu and Ramos.

As previously reported the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Public Safety Committee recently:

... approved by a 13 to 0 vote a proposed resolution condemning the decision by the Staten Island Grand Jury not to issue an indictment of the NYPD Officer in the choking death of Eric Garner. The resolution will be sent to the full RIRA Common Council for discussion at the January 2015 monthly meeting....

Will RIRA still go forward with this resolution after the shooting of Officers Liu and Ramos?

More information on the proposed RIRA resolution regarding the Eric Garner case here.

UPDATE - 12/22 - RIRA Public Safety Committee Chair Erin Feely-Nahem issued this statement on behalf of the Public Safety Committee:

The cold-blooded random murder -- execution style -- of two New York City police officers is without any mitigation to be unreservedly condemned. The RIRA Public Safety Committee offers our condolences to the families of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.

Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, has tried to link these murders to the recent legitimate and overwhelmingly peaceful protests against the longstanding pattern of police killings of innocent, unarmed people (almost always African-American) by NYPD officers, most recently and notoriously the killing of Eric Garner.

The deranged killer in Brooklyn falsely sought to identify his criminal act with the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York. There is no rational connection between legitimate protests against police brutality and unjustified killings of innocent, unarmed civilians with no legal accountability and the cold-blooded murders of police officers who are carrying out their legitimate authority.