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De Blasio at centre of police storm after two NYPD officers shot dead
De Blasio at centre of police storm after two NYPD officers shot dead
(about 9 hours later)
It was a cold, cloudy and quiet morning in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, but from blocks away in many directions the flashing lights of a cop car could be seen. The car was stationed on a corner opposite the spot where two New York Police Department officers were killed on Saturday afternoon.
The flashing red lights of a police car could be seen blocks away, stationed on the corner where two New York officers had been gunned down in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood.
A makeshift memorial of candles and flowers had appeared where officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, were shot while sitting in their parked patrol car. Some cried as they laid flowers; others shook hands with police officers stationed nearby.
A makeshift memorial of candles and flowers had been created next to the place where Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot dead while parked in their patrol car on Saturday. Some cried as they placed bunches of flowers at the scene. Others shook hands with police officers stationed nearby.
Such gestures were striking. Relations between the NYPD and residents have been strained in recent months, as nationwide protests have focussed on the disparity between police treatment of white people and minorities. In New York last month, a grand jury voted not to indict an NYPD officer who put a 43-year-old black man, Eric Garner, in an illegal chokehold, causing his death. Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe”, have become a rallying cry for demonstrations.
Relations between the NYPD and city residents have been strained as nationwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality have highlighted the disparity between police treatment of white people and minorities.
On Saturday night, police union representatives voiced their anger over such protests and what they saw as support for them from the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio. At the Woodhull Medical Center, where de Blasio and NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton held a press conference in which they named the dead officers and the suspect in the killings, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, police turned their backs on the mayor.
In New York City last month, a grand jury voted not to indict an NYPD officer who put a 43-year-old unarmed black man, Eric Garner, in an illegal choke hold, causing his death. Garner’s final words, “I can’t breathe”, have been a rallying cry for demonstrations since that decision was announced.
Speaking outside the hospital, Pat Lynch, the leader of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said there was “blood on their hands [of] those that incited violence on the street under the guise of protest … [blood] on the steps of city hall, in the office of the mayor”.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio has also been criticised by the police union for what it saw as his support for such protests.
The Twitter feed of the Sergeants Benevolent Association contained a similar controversial statement: “The blood of 2 executed police officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio. May God bless their families and may they rest in peace.”
At the Woodhull Medical Center, where de Blasio and NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton held a press conference on Saturday night in which they named the dead officers and the suspect in the killings, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, police turned their backs on the mayor.
On Sunday the former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly added to criticism from authority figures including George Pataki, the former New York state governor, and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Pat Lynch, the president of the city’s main police union, said there was “blood on the hands [of] those that incited violence on the street under the guise of protest … [blood] on the steps of city hall, in the office of the mayor”.
“When the mayor made statements about having to train his son, who is biracial, to be careful around the police, I think that set off this firestorm,” Kelly said on ABC, adding that he thought “the mayor ran an anti-police campaign last year when he ran for office”.
On Sunday night, President Barack Obama called Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey, who he has asked to co-chair a task force to examine policing practices across the US, to express his outrage over the Brooklyn killings.
De Blasio has walked a delicate line in the wake of the Garner decision, which he refused to endorse. In an interview earlier this month, the mayor said he and his wife, Chirlane McCray, who is black, have had many conversations with their teenage son, Dante, warning him to “take special care” in any encounter with police officers.
Obama asked Ramsey to use his task force to further his message that such acts against police are to be condemned, the White House said.
“It’s a painful conversation,” de Blasio said. “We all want to look up to figures of authority and everyone knows the police protect us. But there is that fear that there could be that one moment of misunderstanding with a young man of color and that young man may never come back.”
On the streets, New Yorkers were anguished by the latest violence. Gary Pate moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, known as Bed-Stuy, from Brownsville to get away from that neighbourhood’s endemic violence. While he is still angry about the grand jury’s decision in the Garner case, as well as the other police killings that have marked 2014, he was insistent that nobody wanted the police shooting to happen.
On Sunday, de Blasio and Bratton attended mass at the city’s St Patrick’s Cathedral, where Cardinal Timothy Dolan – who a week ago wrote a controversial newspaper op-ed piece in which he said “it’s only pouring kerosene on the fire when some upset leaders caricature our dedicated police officers as bigots” – said the city was “in solidarity” with its mayor.
“We know that cop shouldn’t have put his knees, his arms, on [Garner], because the man was telling him he can’t breathe – he was suffocating,” Pate said. “But now, what is this [shooting] going to lead to? Is it open season on all of us?”
“Our beloved city needs the peace that only our lord can give,” Dolan said, before asking the congregation to “pray for consolation for [the officers’] sobbing families”.
Brinsley travelled from Baltimore to Brooklyn on Saturday after shooting and wounding his former girlfriend. NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton said Brinsley had made “very anti-police” comments on Instagram that day, but investigators were working to determine a specific motive for the killings.
According to a statement by White House spokesperson Eric Schultz, President Barack Obama called Bratton on Sunday morning to express his condolences. Schultz told reporters the president “reiterated his call for the American people to reject violence and words that harm, and turn to words that heal”.
What they do know is that officer Liu got married recently and officer Ramos has a 13-year-old son.
Obama also told Bratton that his staff were continuing to monitor the situation, and offered him his full support in the days and weeks ahead.
They also know that Ramos was behind the wheel of the parked patrol car and Liu was in the passenger seat when Brinsley appeared at about 3pm and shot both men in the head. Bratton said the officers may not have even have had time to see their assailant and that their weapons were not drawn. Brinsley fled to a nearby subway station and shot himself on the platform.
Back in Bed-Stuy, Gary Pate said he had moved to the area from Brownsville, to get away from that neighborhood’s endemic violence. While he was still angry about the grand jury’s decision in the Garner case, as well as the other police killings that have marked 2014, he was insistent that nobody had wanted Saturday’s shooting to happen.
While Brinsley has ties to East Flatbush in New York City, investigators are trying to determine where he was living at the time of the shooting and whether he had planned the killing in advance. His last known residence was in Georgia, where he was convicted of felony gun possession in 2011.
“We know that cop shouldn’t have put his knees, his arms, on that man [Eric Garner] because the man was telling him he can’t breathe – he was suffocating,” Pate told the Guardian. “But now, what is this [shooting] going to lead to? Is it open season on all of us?”
Junior Fortin is a lifelong Bed-Stuy resident and full-time father. He brought a candle to the memorial, a few blocks from where he lives. Two of his best friends were NYPD officers, he said.
Brinsley travelled from Baltimore to Brooklyn on Saturday, after shooting and wounding his former girlfriend. Bratton said at the Saturday press conference that Brinsley had made “very anti-police” comments on the social media platform Instagram that day, but added that investigators were working to determine a specific motive for the killings.
What they do know is that Officer Liu had recently married and Officer Ramos has a 13-year-old son, Jaden, who posted a message to Facebook.
“This is the worst day of my life,” he wrote. “Today I had to say bye to my father. He was there for me everyday of my life, he was the best father I could ask for. It’s horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops but they are the people that they call for help.”
Investigators also know that when Brinsley appeared on Tompkins Avenue, around 3pm, Ramos was behind the wheel of the parked patrol car and Liu was in the passenger’s seat. Brinsley assumed a firing stance and shot both men in the head. Bratton said the officers may not have had time to see their assailant and that their weapons were definitely not drawn.
Brinsley then fled to a nearby subway station, where he shot himself, fatally, in the head.
Brinsley had ties to East Flatbush in New York City, but investigators were trying to determine where he was living at the time of the shooting and whether he had planned it in advance. His last known residence was in Georgia, where he was convicted of felony gun possession in 2011, according to court records.
Junior Fortin is a lifelong Bed-Stuy resident and full-time dad. He brought a candle to the memorial, a few blocks from his home. He said two of his best friends are NYPD officers.
“It’s just sad, it is going to separate us,” Fortin said. “It’s not going to make the cops trust us if we don’t trust them.”
“It’s just sad, it is going to separate us,” Fortin said. “It’s not going to make the cops trust us if we don’t trust them.”
He said that even though he is black and had in the past felt afraid to go outside, in case of being accused of doing something he didn’t do or even of being shot by police, he had faith that the justice system could be improved. “For all that to work, we have to come together and talk together without yelling at each other and pointing at each other,” he said.
Fortin, who is black, said he had felt afraid to go outside in case he was accused of doing something he had not done, or was even shot by police. But he said he had faith that the justice system could be improved.
The intense reaction to the Garner case was in part fomented by the August killing of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. The incident led to raging protests in the small southern city and extended globally as a greater movement against systemic racism.
“For all that to work, we have to come together and talk together without yelling at each other and pointing at each other,” Fortin said.
Brown’s family condemned Saturday’s shootings in a statement made through their lawyer, while the Reverend Al Sharpton spoke on behalf of the Garner family, saying he and they were “outraged” by the shooting. “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,” Sharpton said.
The intense reaction to the Garner case was in part bred by the killing of the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. The incident incited raging protests in the city near St Louis this August and extended globally as a greater movement against systemic racism.
Nas Hills splits his time between Baltimore and Brooklyn, his home in the latter in a Tompkins Houses building across the street from where the shooting occurred. He said he and his uncle heard four or five shots on Saturday afternoon but thought the noise came from firecrackers or some other mischief, because it was daytime.
Brown’s family condemned the Brooklyn shootings in a statement made through their lawyer. The Rev Al Sharpton spoke on behalf of the Garner family, saying he and they were outraged by the shooting. “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,” Sharpton said.
They looked across the street and saw cops coming from every direction, then went downstairs, where Hills could see the officers’ bodies.
De Blasio has trodden carefully since the Garner decision, applauding the work of the NYPD while also refusing to endorse the grand jury’s vote. In an interview earlier this month, De Blasio said he and his wife, Chirlane McCray, who is black, had had many conversations with their teenage son Dante, warning him to “take special care” in any encounter with police officers.
“It’s not a war zone out here,” Hill said. But he said the shooting had made him wary about raising his daughter in the neighborhood.
New York City cardinal Timothy Dolan said the city stood in solidarity with de Blasio at a St Patrick’s Cathedral mass yesterday, where the mayor stood alongside Bratton. “Our beloved city needs the peace … that only our lord can give,” Dolan said.
“Even around here, you could usually parlay, chill,” he said.
Nas Hills splits his time between Baltimore and Brooklyn – in a building across the street from where the shooting occurred. “It’s not a war zone out here,” Hill said, but the shooting has made him wary about raising his daughter in the neighbourhood.
“It’s going to be different. They aren’t going to want us outside.”
“Even around here, you could usually chill … it’s going to be different,” Hills said. “They aren’t going to want us outside.”
