The executions of 2 uniformed police officers in Brooklyn has polarized the NYPD against NY Mayor Bill de Blasio.
A NY police union began calling for de Blasio to step down almost immediately after a deranged gang member executed 2 police officers on Saturday in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Officer Rafael Ramos, left, and Officer Wenjian Liu were ambushed and shot to death by Baltimore gang member Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, as they ate lunch in their patrol car just before 3 p.m. Saturday. Police say Brinsley approached the squad car from the passenger side and opened fire through the closed passenger side window. Ramos was sitting in the driver’s seat and Liu was in the passenger seat.
Both officers were shot point blank in the head. They were pronounced dead at Woodhull hospital. After the shooting Brinsley fled to a nearby subway station where he committed suicide with a single gunshot to the head.
In social media postings on Saturday, Brinsley forewarned police of his murderous intent to take the lives of 2 police officers as revenge for the police killings of 2 unarmed black men.
“I’m Putting Wings On Pigs Today. They Take 1 Of Ours…Let’s Take 2 of Theirs… This May Be My Final Post,” Brinsley wrote about 3 hours before he killed the officers.
Officers blamed Mayor de Blasio for inciting violence against police officers by instructing his 13-year-old biracial son, Dante, to “take special care” when he is approached by police on the street.
“Mayor de Blasio, the blood of these two officers is clearly on your hands,” Ed Mullins, president of the sergeants association, said in a statement to his union members Saturday night.
“It is your failed policies and actions that enabled this tragedy to occur,” Mullins said. “I only hope and pray that more of these ambushes and executions do not happen again.”
NYPD officers turned their backs on Mayor de Blasio as he entered a Brooklyn hospital to pay his respects to the fallen officers on Saturday night.
The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association circulated a petition requesting that Mr. de Blasio and City Council member Melissa Clark-Viverito not attend the funerals of police officers who die in the line of duty. It isn’t known how many officers signed the petition.
Twitter users expressed outrage at Black Twitter for celebrating the deaths of the 2 officers.
