'#ShootThePolice': Crazed man's online ranting before executing two NYPD officers, committing suicide
By RYAN GORMAN
A gunman shot dead two NYPD officers in Brooklyn before apparently taking his own life, NYPD sources tell AOL News.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, a 28-year-old black male, posted multiple times to a now-deleted Instagram account that he was getting revenge for the death's of Staten Island man Eric Garner and Missouri teen Michael Brown. One of the posts included his blood spattered pants.
Officials called the double murder an assassination during a Saturday night press conference.
"Our city is in mourning, our hearts are heavy," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a Saturday evening press conference. "They died serving the city they love."
Brinsley approached officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, 40, from the passenger side of a marked squad car they were sitting in in the Bed Stuy section of Brooklyn at 2:47 p.m., cops said. They were both shot in the head execution-style.
One officer was pronounced dead at the scene, the other died at a nearby hospital, said police. One of the officers was a seven-year veteran of the force, the other a two-year vet, sources said.
"Both officers paid the ultimate price defending the communities they serve," said a shaken NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, his voice trembling as he spoke.
Liu was married only two months ago. Ramos leaves behind a wife and a 13-year-old son.
The gunman then fled the scene on foot to a nearby subway station with other officers close behind. He was found on the train platform with what police tell AOL News is a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Brinley's firearm, a hand gun, was recovered at the scene, investigators said.
The suspected shooter's posts to Instagram earlier in the day horrified the people who read them.
"I'm putting wings on a pig today. They take 1 of ours..... Let's take 2 of theirs #ShootThePolice #RIPErivGardner [sic] #RIPMikeBrown This may be my final post, I'm putting pigs in a blanket," he wrote in the caption of a handgun.
"Erase this man come on," a follower wrote.
A second post a short time later appears to have been made shortly after he gunned the officers down.
"Never had a hot gun on your waist and blood on your shoe... N***a you ain't [sic] been through what I been through you not like me and I'm not like you #BrooklynGoHard #ConeyIsland."
People reading the post were shocked.
"Wow," wrote one.
"This f*****g terrorist piece of s**t," wrote another.
A third said: "You're going to be dead soon enough. Enjoy hell dumba**. You just killed yourself defending another lowlife."
The picture with the second post shows blood spattered camouflage pants and shoes matching the ones worn by a man taken from the subway station where police sources say the man was found dead.
A Facebook post earlier in the day from the suspect hinted he planned to take action, but not at the horrors to come.
"I Always Wanted To Be Known For Doing Something Right....... But My Past Is Stalking Me And My Present Is Haunting Me," he wrote.
Authorities say Brinsley also shot a woman in Baltimore believed to be his ex-girlfriend, said Bratton. An all-points bulletin (APB) for Brinsley was faxed to the NYPD only two minutes before he shot both cops dead.
The Rev. Al Sharpton has released a statement condemning the double murder.
"We are outraged by the early reports of the police killed in Brooklyn early today," said Sharpton. "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.'
Links to terror groups have been ruled out, but several reports suggest Brinsley was a member of a Baltimore street gang that has made death threats against police.
The police union has mandated all 911 call responses be met with two squad cars and that no law enforcement action be taken unless "absolutely necessary," according to a memo provided to AOL News.
This is the first known case of apparent retaliation for the numerous deaths of unarmed blacks this summer while in the presence of police officers.
Related links:
NYPD fumes over lack of support from Mayor de Blasio in wake of Eric Garner grand jury decision
NYPD tweets 'you can't handle the truth' in apparent nod to civilian deaths
