Two NYC police officers killed in ambush shooting

The suspect, who fatally shot himself, had posted in Instagram about shooting in retaliation for the death of the recent chokehold death of Eric Garner.

An armed man walked up to two New York Police Department officers sitting inside a patrol car and opened fire on Saturday afternoon, shooting both of them fatally before running into a nearby subway station and committing suicide, police said.

The two officers who were ambushed and shot to death in their vehicle were “quite simply, assassinated,” and the suspect had made Instagram posts that were very anti-police, the city’s Police Commissioner said.

William Bratton said the officers, Liu Wenjin and Raphael Ramos, were shot in the head without warning after the gunman approached the passenger window of a marked police car and opened fire.

The suspect, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, then ran inside a Brooklyn subway station and fatally shot himself in the head.

Mr. Bratton said the suspect shot his ex-girlfriend earlier Saturday in Baltimore and 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 that the suspect posted about shooting two “pigs” in retaliation for the death of Eric Garner: “I’m putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let’s take 2 of theirs.” He used the hashtags Shootthepolice, RIPErivGardner (sic), RIPMikeBrown. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

The shooting occurred hours later, around the time that Mr. Bratton said that New York police were receiving a warning fax from Baltimore authorities.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called Saturday’s shooting deaths an “unspeakable act of barbarism”.

Police in New York are being criticised for their tactics following the recent chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed African-American man who was stopped by police on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Amateur video captured an officer wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck and wrestling him to the ground. Garner was heard gasping, “I can’t breathe” before he lost consciousness.

Demonstrators around the country have staged protests since a grand jury decided on December 3, 2014 not to indict the officer in Garner’s death. The decision closely followed a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict a white officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American 18-year-old.

Bratton said they were looking at whether the suspect had attended any rallies or demonstrations.

Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, said Garner’s family had no connection to the suspect and denounced the violence.

“Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases,” Rev. Sharpton said.

The last shooting death of a New York Police Department officer came in December 2011, after a report of a break-in at a Brooklyn apartment.