Two New York City policemen were killed in broad daylight in Brooklyn when they were gunned down inside their police cruiser on Saturday afternoon.
NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were parked on the street near Myrtle and Tompkins Avenues on Saturday when a man identified as Ismaaiyl Brinsley walked up to their marked police cruiser from the sidewalk and approached the passenger-side window.
Brinsley had uploaded postings to Instagram earlier, saying he planned to avenge the death of Eric Garner, a man who died earlier this year after being placed in a chokehold by another New York police officer.
Witnesses told police that Brinsley then took a shooting stance before opening fire through the passenger-side window, fatally striking both officers in the head. The New York post reported that Brinsley then stood still for a few moments, only fleeing after he heard sirens of more police officers arriving.
Brinsley fled to the nearby Myrtle-Willoughby Avenues subway station, where he shot himself in the head on the platform, killing himself.
Brinsley is also suspected of shooting his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore early on Saturday before he traveled to New York to carry out the shootings of the policemen. The NYPD police commissioner said Baltimore poloce had sent a warning to New York police about Brinsley’s threatening posts. However, the message came too late.
Officer Ramos turned 40 this month, while 32-year-old Liu got married two months ago.
