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Gunman kills two New York police officers | Gunman kills two New York police officers |
(35 minutes later) | |
A gunman has shot dead two police officers sitting inside a patrol car in New York before killing himself | |
The head of the New York police said the men had been "targeted for their uniform". | |
The gunman ran into a nearby subway station where he then shot himself, officials say. | The gunman ran into a nearby subway station where he then shot himself, officials say. |
Earlier, the attacker shot and injured his ex-girlfriend and had posted anti-police messages on social media. | |
The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, said anyone who saw postings indicating a threat to the police should report them to the authorities. The "whole city was in mourning" after the shootings, he said. | |
The shootings come at a time when New York city police are facing intense scrutiny for their tactics, the BBC's Samira Hussein reports from New York. | |
Earlier this month, a grand jury did not indict any New York police department officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man who died when white police officers tried to arrest him for selling cigarettes. | |
The decision sparked protests in New York and other cities across the US. | |
'Simply assassinated' | |
The officers were on duty in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn when they were shot on Saturday afternoon. | |
Officers Liu Wenjin and Raphael Ramos were pronounced dead in hospital. | |
Bill Bratton, commissioner of the New York police department, said the officers had been shot with "no warning, no provocation - they were quite simply assassinated". | |
The killer's name was given as Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28. | |
Commissioner Bratton said the suspect had wounded his former girlfriend earlier on Saturday in Baltimore and had made posts from her Instagram account. | |
"This may be my final post," said one that included an image of a silver handgun. | |
Two officials told the Associated Press news agency that the gunman had also posted about shooting police in retaliation for the death of Mr Garner. | |
US Attorney General Eric Holder called the shootings an "unspeakable act of barbarism". | |
The Rev Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights activist, said Mr Garner's family had had no connection to the gunman and he denounced the violence. | |
"Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown [a black man shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri] in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases," Rev Sharpton said. | |
Deputy Inspector Michael Deddo, of Brooklyn's 66th Precinct police, tweeted: "Our prayers are with our fellow NYPD brothers who were executed in the line of duty today in Brooklyn". | Deputy Inspector Michael Deddo, of Brooklyn's 66th Precinct police, tweeted: "Our prayers are with our fellow NYPD brothers who were executed in the line of duty today in Brooklyn". |
The last fatal shooting of a New York police officer was in 2011. | The last fatal shooting of a New York police officer was in 2011. |