New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday while speaking to police during a luncheon that now is the time to be with the families of the slain officers, not the time to protest. VPC
Police officers pay their respects Monday at a makeshift memorial near the site where two police officers were murdered Saturday in Brooklyn.(Photo: Seth Wenig, AP)
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to cool the heated controversy swirling around the fatal shootings of two police officers, calling Monday for New Yorkers to "put aside protests" and focus on the families of the fallen patrolmen.
"These families are now our family and we will stand by them," de Blasio said at a fundraising luncheon for the Police Athletic League. "They are suffering unbelievable pain right now."
He reinforced the message later in a news conference with top police officials after visiting the families of the two officers slain by gunfire as they sat in their patrol car Saturday.
"This is a time for every New Yorker to think about these families,'' de Blasio said. "Put aside protests, put aside demonstrations until these funerals are past. Let's focus just on these families and what they have lost.'
Tensions between de Blasio and his 35,000-member police force have grown stronger since Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, fatally shot officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, as they sat in their patrol car Saturday. Brinsley, pursued by other officers, turned the gun on himself moments later.
As the mayor made his plea, funeral arrangements were underway for the slain officers. A viewing is scheduled for Ramos at Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens, N.Y., for Friday afternoon and evening and a funeral at the same church scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, according to NYPD. Arrangements for Wenjian Liu were still being made as relatives travel from China.
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The widow of one of the NY police officers shot dead at the weekend issues a tearful statement to waiting media. Paul Chapman reports Video provided by Reuters Newslook
In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the slayings "an unspeakable act of barbarism.''
"This cowardly attack underscores the dangers that are routinely faced by those who protect and serve their fellow citizens,'' Holder said. "As a nation we must not forget this as we discuss the events of the recent past. These courageous men and women routinely incur tremendous personal risks, and place their lives on the line each and every day, in order to preserve public safety. We are forever in their debt.''
At a news conference with the mayor, Robert Boyce, chief of detectives for New York police in Manhattan, said investigators had found more than a thousand images on the shooter's cell phone, including a short video that he apparently shot as a spectator to protests against police in New York on Dec. 1.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said investigators believe the shooter acted alone and was "a sole operator,'' but are still trying to piece together how Brinsley spent his final two hours in New York City before the attack. Anyone who may have seen him or has information was asked to contact police. De Blasio called the shooter "a deeply troubled career criminal.''
Before his rampage, Brinsley purportedly posted a comment on an Instagram account saying he planned to kill police officers as revenge for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown — unarmed black men killed by white officers in recent months.
Some officers believe de Blasio failed to properly support police after a Staten Island grand jury this month declined to indict an officer in the chokehold death of Garner. When de Blasio went to the hospital in the hours after Ramos and Liu were shot, officers who gathered there turned their backs on the mayor.
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference on Monday afternoon that despite rumors of tension between him and the NYPD, his support has never wavered. VPC
Bratton said representatives from the five police unions had agreed to stand down and not issue further criticisms of the mayor until after the funerals. Bratton downplayed tensions between officers and de Blasio.
"Can you point out to me one mayor who has not been battling with police unions in the last 50 years? Name one," he said., speaking with reporters at a news conference. "The experience of this mayor of some cops not liking him, it's nothing new."
Earlier, Patrick Lynch, president of the officers' union, said there was "blood on the hands" of de Blasio.
"I think it's important that regardless of people's viewpoints that everyone realizes it's time to step back and focus on these families," de Blasio said. "It's time to pause political debates, to put aside protests."
The families are eligible for federal death benefits of more than $300,000 each. Attorney General Eric Holder has directed program officials to reach out to the officers' survivors to assist in submitting their claims.
Earlier, Bratton rejected claims that de Blasio has failed to sufficiently support his officers and thus increased the dangers officers face on the street.
"I don't believe that at all," Bratton told NBC's Today, adding that the department in 2014 received "over $400 million outside of my normal budget to improve our training, to improve our facilities, to acquire technology."
Bratton said he did not believe the hospital protest was appropriate. "But it's reflective of the anger of some of them," Bratton said.
Lucy Ramos, the aunt of Rafael Ramos, and a family member attend a candlelight vigil for slain NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, on Dec. 21 in New York.(Photo: Kevin Mazur, WireImage)
A union message called on NYPD officers to respond to every radio call with two cars — "no matter what the opinion of the patrol supervisor" — and not make arrests "unless absolutely necessary." The president of the detectives' union told members in a letter to work in threes when out on the street, wear bulletproof vests and keep aware of their surroundings.
Adding to the tension, police were searching for a reputed Brooklyn gang member who posted online a photo of a man opening fire into a marked police cruiser, local media including the New York Post reported.
Devon Coley, 18, wrote "73Nextt" – an apparent reference to the city's 73rd Precinct — on his Facebook page.
Officer safety concerns were not limited to New York.
A directive warned officers in Newark not to patrol alone and to avoid people looking for confrontations.
In Philadelphia, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey urged the leaders of protests over the deaths of Garner and Michael Brown, an unarmed black man fatally shot by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo., to "call for calm and not let this escalate any further."
In Boston, Police Commissioner William Evans said police issued an alert warning officers about the New York City slayings and added that the department had issued several alerts following the Ferguson grand jury's decision.
Contributing: William M. Welch and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY; Associated Press
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