At around
10 PM,
visibly distraught NYPD employees and relatives gathered in silence at
Woodhull Memorial Hospital to salute their fallen comrades, as the
bodies of Officers Lui and Ramos were carried away. After the emotional
ceremony, officers patted each other on the back, embraced, and stood
quietly around the hospital where their colleagues were pronounced dead.
The somber evening took a combative turn when Patrolmen's Benevolent
Association President Patrick Lynch spoke to the press moments after the
bodies of Liu and Ramos were carried out of the hospital. He placed
blame for the "
execution" on Mayor Bill de Blasio and the protesters who have been holding demonstrations for police accountability across the city.
"There's blood on many hands tonight. That blood on the hands starts on
the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor," Lynch told
reporters after the ceremony. "Those that incited violence on the street
under the guise of protests that tried to tear down what New York City
police officers did every day."
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch
Earlier in the day, an inflammatory statement initially attributed to the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which
later denied
issuing the memo, read, "The mayor's hands are literally dripping with
our blood because of his words, actions and policies and we have, for
the first time in a number of years, become a 'wartime' police
department. We will act accordingly."
Before de Blasio's remarks,
WPIX11
recorded a video showing officers turn their back to the mayor as he
arrived. Lynch later confirmed the disapproving statement from officers
with a nod to reporters inquiring about the incident.
Lynch and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association have quickly developed
a fraught relationship with de Blasio, whose support for court-issued
NYPD reforms and remarks sympathetic to racially-charged policing have
been deemed betrayal. After de Blasio
told ABC's This Week he spoke with his biracial son Dante about acting carefully around police, the PBA urged officers
to notify de Blasio and another politician sympathetic to
demonstrators, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, that they are
not welcome to attend their funerals, should they die in the line of
duty.
De Blasio spokesperson
Marti Adams said
of Lynch's most recent tirade, "It's unfortunate that in a time of
great tragedy, some would resort to irresponsible, overheated rhetoric
that angers and divides people," adding that "Mayor de Blasio
understands this is the time when we must come together to support the
families and friends of those brave officers New York City lost tonight,
and the entire NYPD community."
At a press conference before the bodies were carried away, de Blasio
issued a teary-eyed remembrance of Liu and Ramos, honoring the men and
women of the NYPD.
"When a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our
society," the mayor said. "It is an attack on all of us. It's an attack
on everything we hold dear. We depend on our police to protect us
against forces of criminality and evil. They are a foundation of our
society, and when they are attacked, it is an attack on the very concept
of decency."
The family of Missouri teenager Michael Brown—whose death
did not result in an indictment
for the police officer who shot him, causing widespread protests—also
issued a statement condemning the "senseless" killing. "We reject any
kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement," it read.
"It cannot be tolerated. We must work together to bring peace to our
communities. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officers' families
during this incredibly difficult time."
At a
press conference
with the Reverend Al Sharpton Sunday morning, Eric Garner's mother Gwen
Carr expressed her condolences for the NYPD's loss, and bemoaned
violence in the name of justice for her son. "I'm standing here in
sorrow about losing those police officers...we stand with the families,"
said Carr, "We are going in peace, and anybody who's standing with us,
we don't want you to use Eric Garner's name for violence." Garner was killed by a lethal police chokehold on Staten Island this summer.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
on Sunday urged
police reform protesters to hold-off on demonstrations "out of respect
and decency" until Liu and Ramos are laid to rest. He called on New
Yorkers to join him at the intersection where Liu and Ramos were
attacked for a candlelight vigil in the evening, but also pushed back on
the police unions' attacks on the mayor.
"Blood is on the hands of one individual—a sick man who did a sick act," Adams said.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
stressed that the killings were a "hate crime," which Congress has defined
as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole
or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability,
ethnic origin or sexual orientation."
Echoing Lynch, the head of the New Jersey PBA, Patrick Colligan, said in a
statement
that the shooting is "nothing less than an act of domestic terrorism
spurred on by so much recent hatred aimed at officers everywhere."
Though Brinsley was
initially tied by some reports to the Black Guerrilla Family—a Baltimore gang whose plan to target "white officers" and "send a message" was detailed by the FBI in a Friday memo—federal law enforcement agents have told the Baltimore Sun that Brinsley has no known ties to the group. Earlier this month, a Black Guerrilla Family threat to harm the NYPD was deemed "not credible."
The motive behind Brinsley's shooting of his ex-girlfriend earlier
Saturday has largely been ignored, even though that event appears to
have set off his anti-cop rampage. Her blood may be on Brisley's
clothing in photographs he posted to Instagram with the caption, "Never
Had a Hot Gun On Your Waist and Blood on Your Shoe...Nigga You Ain't
Been Through What I Been Through You Not Like Me And I'm Not Like You."
According to
NBC, "Brinsley's mother and sister told the NYPD that he was a violent person and that they were afraid of him."
The
New York Times reported Sunday that Brinsley may have experienced mental illness. According to the Times,
during an August 2011 plea hearing in Cobb County, Georgia, Brinsley
was asked, "Have you ever been a patient in a mental institution or
under the care of a psychiatrist or psychologist?" to which he responded
yes. NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, citing the suspect's
family, said Sunday that he attempted to hang himself about a year ago. The Times report
also touches on his record of brushes with the law, which includes
charges for serious offenses like making terroristic threats and weapons
violations.
The paper added that the Baltimore County Police Department learned of Brinsley's threatening Instagram posts at about 1:30 PM Saturday, and then telephoned the NYPD's 70th precinct to notify the department of his whereabouts at around 2:00.
Almost exactly at the time of the killing 45 to 50 minutes later, the
Baltimore cops faxed a warning memo to the NYPD's real-time crime
center.
On Sunday, flags at New York City administrative offices were being flown at half-staff.
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