{"id":76087,"date":"2014-12-21T10:22:39","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T10:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=76087"},"modified":"2014-12-21T10:22:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-21T10:22:39","slug":"gunman-kills-two-new-york-policemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/12\/gunman-kills-two-new-york-policemen\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunman kills two New York policemen"},"content":{"rendered":"
A gunman has shot dead two police officers sitting inside a patrol car in New York before killing himself.<\/p>\n
The head of the New York police said the men had been “targeted for their uniform”. The gunman then ran into a subway station where he shot himself.<\/p>\n
Earlier he had shot and injured his ex-girlfriend and had posted anti-police messages on social media.<\/p>\n
President Barack Obama – who is on holiday in Hawaii – said he condemned the killings “unconditionally”.<\/p>\n
“Officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day and they deserve our respect and gratitude every single day,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The killings come amid widespread dissatisfaction in relations between police and African Americans.<\/p>\n
The gunman was a black man – named as Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28 – while the two police officers, Liu Wenjin and Raphael Ramos, were Asian and Hispanic respectively.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, a grand jury decided not to indict a New York officer for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man who died when white police officers tried to arrest him for selling cigarettes.<\/p>\n
Last month, another grand jury also cleared a white officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Missouri.<\/p>\n
Both decisions triggered nationwide protests.<\/p>\n
New York police commissioner Bill Bratton said his department was looking at whether the suspect had attended any rallies.<\/p>\n
Two officials told the Associated Press news agency that the gunman had also posted about shooting police in retaliation for the death of Mr Garner.<\/p>\n
The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, said anyone seeing postings indicating a threat to the police should report them.<\/p>\n
‘Simply assassinated’<\/span><\/p>\n The officers were on duty in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn when they were shot on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n Mr Bratton said the officers had been shot with “no warning, no provocation – they were quite simply assassinated”.<\/p>\n