2 NYPD Officers "Executed" by man claiming revenge for Garner and Brown

[The Lunatic]

Two uniformed police officers were shot dead this afternoon as they sat in their marked police car on a Brooklyn street corner. The pair were working overtime as of an anti-terrorism drill and were shot at point blank in the head, in an attack described as "Execution style".

The names of the officers are currently being withheld, pending the families of the officers being informed of their deaths. At first they were described as in "Critical condition", however, it is now the case that their deaths have been confirmed.

The gunman made several posts on facebook before the attack, using such terms as "Putting wings on pigs today". He also uses the hashtags "#RIPErivGardner" and "#RIPMikeBrown". There are also several photos of various guns he appears to own, as well as another image showing his leg and shoe covered in blood, in which he quotes lyrics from "50 Cent's Green Lantern".

The gunman also appears to have killed himself after the attack, and at present there are reports of an earlier attack on a woman. However, these are presently unconfirmed.

It occurs to me, that the gunman is quite clearly deranged and is co-opting a controversy as justification for murder. I think it's very unfortunate what the fallout for this attack will be. It adds a very sour note to any debate that can be had about the current situation and will lead to police officers being afraid to defend themselves and do their duty in fear of future revenge attacks. These officers had nothing to do with the cases and to be killed in such an awful way at such an awful time, is a a truly terrible thing.

As it stands, three people have died today, the families of two police officers will spend Christmas mourning the death of a loved one. I think regardless of what side you find yourself on in this current debate, it's impossible not to feel anything other than sadness at the current state of affairs.

Source: New York Post [http://nypost.com/2014/12/20/2-nypd-cops-shot-execution-style-in-brooklyn/] BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30566196] Huffington Post [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/20/nypd-officers-dead-brooklyn-shooting_n_6360434.html]

 

[Hazy992]

Jesus Christ... this isn't the way, this will only fuel more hatred and anger. Condolences to the families of those killed.

 

[Mezahmay]

I cannot believe 50 Cent would create and SELL a song that inspires the murder of police officers. It's that damn rap music ruining today's society and blah blah.

Seriously though, it's a tragedy that this man felt the urge to kill two innocent police officers. It would have been better if this man found a better outlet for his aggression and/or sought treatment for any mental issues he was experiencing. It is a tragedy that this man felt this way toward police officers at all. May we as a society learn to reconcile such issues in the future.

 

[HardkorSB]

On one hand, this was a stupid thing to do.
On the other hand, it was only a matter of time before this happened.
A lot of people in the US (especially certain minorities) are afraid of cops and many of them have a good reason for it.
The justice system is clearly on the side of the cops so some people will eventually take matters into their own hands (regardless of whether their actions will actually do anything to solve the problems).

Over all, can't say I'm surprised.
I was actually expecting to see stuff like this for a while now.

 

[The Madman]

I was actually expecting to see stuff like this for a while now.

This happens all the time. In the last few months alone just a minute of google searching brings up incidents in Las Vegas and Pennsylvania where cops were ambushed and killed. There are probably more as well, I'd rather not spend more than a few minutes looking up this depressing crap so I wont search any further than the google front page. Heck, even here in Canada I remember some nutjob lured a couple mounties into his barn where he shot them not too long ago. I think that happened last year? Not sure.

Either way this kind of stuff happens, one of the many reasons I would never want to be a cop myself.

 

[Queen Michael]

Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do...

Ugh. Really not what I needed this Saturday night. I hope the officer's families are as well as can be expected under the circumstances.

 

[totheendofsin]

Well this isn't going to help tensions between minorities and cops at all :\

my condolences to the families of these two officers

 

[StriderShinryu]

The names of the two officers have been released and, based just on the names anyway, it sounds as if one was possibly Chinese and the other Latino. So yeah, not exactly what you think of as a white police officer. And of course he ran away and shot himself rather than face the consequences for his actions.

*sigh* Anyway, I feel terrible for the families of the officers. And I feel sorry for the families of Garner and Brown as well. Lots of loved ones on both sides are going to have a shitty Christmas this year and probably for the rest of their lives. Not sure what else there is to say.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

It'll never end, will it? There will always be crazy people who have to ruin things for everyone else... and events earlier this year aren't helping. Anyway, my condolences to the families, and if the gunman did kill himself... he'll be regretting his actions in hell, if there's any justice in the universe.

 

[laggyteabag]

I don't get it. All that most police officers want to do is help people, and these two officers were taking part in a drill specifically designed to help people if and when the time came. This man ended their lives in a revenge killing for two people that he probably never even knew, and for a case that these officers were never even a part of, like it was justified through some kind of war between the Police and African-Americans. It was a useless waste of life for both the Policemen and the killer.

My condolences go out to the families of all three men.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

Fuck this shit. Of all the time, for anything, it had to happen now. Some fucktard had to think he was on some crusade for whatever reason and shoot two people literally training to help protect him for when the time came.

I get that he would have found a way to do this regardless, blaming something else or whatever, but now he will also massively re spark and all the hate flinging bullshit of Ferguson again.

I feel so awful about this because I said night to my father who's an officer, hugs and all and hoping we can chill in a few days time and tear presents to tiny pieces. I don't normally get affected too badly by stories of murder and even mass shootings, but this has made me feel a whole lot shittier at the moment. Fuck this shit.

Fucking coward of a gunman running and killing himself too, fucking piece of shit.

Urgh. I need some tea.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

It adds a very sour note to any debate that can be had about the current situation and will lead to police officers being afraid to defend themselves and do their duty in fear of future revenge attacks.

Without meaning to sound as tho I even remotely condone such heinous murder, if it should come to pass that police officers would hesitate to shoot sooner, then that is a good thing. American police are murderers who have killed so many people, many of whom recently have been found to be a combination of innocent and unarmed.

The fact that a jury found no cause to investigate the wrongful killings by police in recent weeks and months is a disgrace to the US of the worst sort. Something needs to be done to reign in police officers, to take away some of their power and make them realise they are there to serve and protect civilians, not rule over them and take their lives when they feel like it. Murdering is not the way, granted, it needs to be a systemic change within the legal, political and law enforcement system. But a change is needed.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And then sometimes the insanity of America stares you right in the face.

Yeah, this'll help set the record straight. Good job, buddy.

The only way to fight hate is with more hate. Suck it, Dalai Lama! And a Merry Christmas to all!

 

[Batou667]

"Man kills an Asian and a Latino in protest against racism"... wait, what?

What a stupid idiot. His biggest mistake was shooting people in the wrong order - should have started with himself.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Oh great, I'm sure shooting two police officers in cold blood and explicitly linking it to racial tensions between blacks and police will work wonders to ease this tension...

This guy was clearly stupid and or mentally ill, because he clearly didn't think about the implications of his actions.

 

[Zannah]

And because people like this exist, cops that encounter black teenagers with toy guns decide it's safer to shoot first than risk to become victims of *righteous outrage*

 

[waj9876]

Congratulations unnamed gunman. You are fucking worse than the cops under investigation. Because at least with them one could argue we don't have all of the facts, and we can't really say for sure if they were justified or not.

But this? This was fucking despicable. These officers had nothing to do with Garner and Brown? Just...what the fuck. Even if they did have something to with those two, it would not come even close to excusing this.

I say unnamed gunman because I don't fucking want to know his name. I don't want anyone to know his name, really. I want this guy to go down in history as "That guy who murdered two police officers." and nothing more. But his name is going to get out there soon enough, and it's just going to inspire more people to do something horrible. Thanks for not posting his name here OP.


God I'm pissed off now. And it was such a good morning too.

 

[Zannah]

I say unnamed gunman because I don't fucking want to know his name. I don't want anyone to know his name, really. I want this guy to go down in history as "That guy who murdered two police officers." and nothing more. But his name is going to get out there soon enough, and it's just going to inspire more people to do something horrible. Thanks for not posting his name here OP.

As desirable as such an outcome would be - considering that the Ferguson-Riots have had no problems excusing violence and looting, and that they already claimed several criminals as martyrs and heroes, I'm genuinely curious if they're still self-aware enough not to excuse the actions of that man. And part of me dreads the answer.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well tough shit really. Clearly the man was nuts, but what he did with his crazy was inspired by police officers.
I am honestly surprised that in a country where every civilian is armed to the teeth and mid day shootings/executions by police officers are not a rarity this response by the public hasn't been seen before.

I would be even more surprised if it didn't happen again.