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| © Carlo Allegri/Reuters A police officer puts up a crime scene tape at the scene of a shooting where two New York Police officers were shot dead in the Brooklyn borough of New York, December 20, 2014. A gunman killed two New York police… |
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| observer.com Bill de Blasio |
The shooting took place in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Both officers were rushed to Woodhull hospital, where one was pronounced dead, police said. The second officer was later pronounced dead at the hospital, according to a senior city official and a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the shooting. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Authorities say the suspect fatally shot himself inside the station. His motive wasn't immediately clear.
The NYPD has scheduled a news conference for 7 p.m. with Mayor Bill de Blasio to discuss the shooting.
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| www.nydailynews.com Eric Garner |
A block from the shooting site, a line of about eight police officers
stood with a German shepherd blocking the taped-off street. Streets
were blocked even to pedestrians for blocks around.
Derrick Thompson, who lives nearby, said the shooting happened across from the Tompkins Houses public housing development.
"I was watching TV, and then I heard the helicopters," Thompson said. "I walked out, and all of a sudden — this."
The
shooting comes at a tense time. Police in New York are being criticized
for their tactics following the chokehold death of Eric Garner, 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 loses consciousness and later dies.
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| www.youtube.com |
The
president of the police officers union, Patrick Lynch, and de Blasio
have been locked in a public battle over treatment of officers following
the grand jury's decision. Just days ago, Lynch suggested police
officers sign a petition that demanded the mayor not attend their
funerals should they die on the job.
The last shooting death of an
NYPD officer came in December 2011, when 22-year veteran Peter Figoski
responded to a report of a break-in at a Brooklyn apartment. He was shot
in the face and killed by one of the suspects hiding in a side room
when officers arrived. The triggerman, Lamont Pride, was convicted of
murder and sentenced in 2013 to 45 years to life in prison.
'It's really hard to understand just what the intention was of this gunman, I do know this, it can't be good for the current happenings between the NYPD and the folks who live in New York...'