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Two NYPD Officers Ambushed, Killed in Brooklyn; News Conference On NYPD Police Officer Killings
Aired December 20, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Martin Savidge, CNN in New York.
We welcome our international viewers.
It's the top of the hour, and we are waiting for New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio to speak at a news conference in Brooklyn. That is where two uniformed police officers died this afternoon after a man walked up to their patrol car and shot them. It happened in the Bedford-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. Witnesses say he approached from behind and shot both police officers while they sat inside.
Police have identified the suspect who shot himself, we are told, in a subway station with police officers chasing after him.
We have got our cameras live in New York City at the hospital where the New York mayor and the police commissioner are expected to speak shortly. Of course, we will carry that news conference live when it happens.
Joining us, CNN law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, former deputy FBI director, and CNN Money tech correspondent, Laurie Segall. Let me start with you, Tom.
We have heard, of course, the mayor plans to be there, but we already know, due to previous events in New York, there's friction going on between the police department and the mayor. How difficult does it make what is a -- already horrible situation?
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Oh, it's going to be very ugly, as I was mentioning earlier, Martin. You have the Police Benevolent Association in New York City saying recently, before this event, that if a police officer gets killed in New York City, the mayor would not be welcome to attend the funeral.
Now, that is about as ugly as it can get in terms of relationship. Many police officers on the NYPD feel that the mayor threw them under the bus with his very public and open criticisms of the way the police do business. So, they're very unhappy with the mayor already, and now you have this event today, where it's starting to look more and more that these officers were killed on purpose, because of all of the recent events.
SAVIDGE: And then you have a nation that has begun in some minds to question law enforcement, particularly after grand jury decisions, not to indict officers over the deaths of African-American men who were being taken into custody.
Laurie Segall, I want to bring you in, because as our tech expert, social media appears to be playing a role here.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Sure. One police source on the ground has said that they are definitely looking into this guy's Facebook, to his Instagram and oftentimes especially when you're just asking why, a lot of times now you go online, and these people leave behind a digital footprint. And what we're hearing is that there could potentially be some evidence scattered across the web on these pages that give us a little bit of insight into what his -- this guy's motive was behind this.
SAVIDGE: And that evidence would seem to suggest, and I know we won't go into great detail, that the previous events, Ferguson and the grand jury decisions, both in New York and there, weigh in to that mind-set.
SEGALL: Absolutely. And from covering the protests here in New York City recently, you can feel the tension. The tension is palpable.
There are conversations that are getting started, and you know, this could potentially have something to do with it. We don't want to speculate too much. But I will say, these police officers, law enforcement, they are going online right now as all of us are to try to find more information about this, to look for that motive and see if that was, in fact, at play.
SAVIDGE: How quickly can they lock that down, because what if someone else wants to pretend they're involved or change it?
SEGALL: Very quickly, I'll tell you something as someone who any time something like this happens, as a tech reporter, you go online and try to look at this. These sites get taken down very quickly. That being said, nothing ever fully disappears on the web. There is always cash version so people can always get an idea of these traces of these digital clues left behind.
SAVIDGE: If it's true that this suspect, and it's been said, Tom, that he traveled from Baltimore.
But, Laurie, if that's true and if there were postings on the Internet, the natural thing to say is why didn't somebody see this, and somebody get a heads up?
SEGALL: You know, it depends, right? It depends on what exactly he was saying. But as we look again, and as we look back, you can see, where he posted his last picture, what his last -- what the last thing he said was. How does that play into it? But, you know, what responsibility do we have? And I guarantee you,
and as someone who is doing my own digging right here, in between these segments, I will say, you look to see what the friends are commenting on when he posts -- if this is, in fact, the guy -- if he's posting certain things. So, that's how you begin to wrap your head around this big picture.
SAVIDGE: Tom Fuentes, you were saying in your conversations with law enforcement that this was something feared. And I mean, this kind of an attack has been feared, not just in New York but elsewhere.
FUENTES: Oh, absolutely, all across the country. You know, you have protests in every major city, more than 100 cities over the past couple of weeks, which indicates that in those communities, there's a difficult relationship between members of the community and the police. And so, the police have been concerned that not the peaceful protesters, but people on the periphery might get encouraged or feel that, hey, it's open season, let's go kill the police.
And as I said, the terminology in that Instagram, if it turns out to be true, saying "put pigs in a blanket," that's what I heard years ago when I was a uniformed police officer, and I thought that, you know, decades later we had moved beyond that.
SAVIDGE: We know that this is, of course, an incident that took place in New York City. The suspect it's believed traveled from Baltimore. Is there any federal involvement? Is there any way that federal law enforcement would become involved?
FUENTES: Well, they -- the FBI certainly, ATF, with weapons tracking, and, you know -- they would get involved at the request of NYPD or to cover leads internationally. I mean -- well, interstate and internationally. But really, I think at this point, it will be the NYPD that will have the lead, and especially because it's their officers that have been killed.
SAVIDGE: We talked about the issues specifically to New York city and how things have really fallen apart, I guess, between the mayor and the police department. Just how serious is this rift?
FUENTES: I think it's very serious, from what I'm hearing. You know, when the -- the head of the Police Benevolent Association says recently in the New York media that the mayor would not be welcome to attend an NYPD funeral, should one be necessary, well, now two are necessary. So, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens in the hours and days ahead between the police and the mayor.
SAVIDGE: And the president of the United States has talked about the issue of trust between law enforcement and the communities in which they serve. What is this likely to do to that level of trust?
FUENTES: I think a lot is going to depend on the response, especially in the community. Even though you had the one young lady that was on right away expressing concern this shouldn't happen, this shouldn't happen in their neighborhood. The police didn't deserve to be killed. As long as there is that kind of effort to find peace, to find a way to work this out among the -- you know, people that disagree over these issues, that could go a long way here.
SAVIDGE: And, Laurie, we talked about social media, how it has been so much involved in what came out of Ferguson, in what came out of New York. This has been talked, it has been protested across the country, and still being talked about now.
SEGALL: Yes, absolutely. And when I was covering the protests here in New York after Eric Garner, when this decision came out, you know, a lot of the protesters were using social media to meet up. These messages were being spread on Facebook. They were spread on Twitter. There are hash tags. So, you know, obviously there's a whole movement happening. There's a whole conversation happening. And oftentimes, it can go many, many ways. There is a conversation for everyone. If you have very, very strong feelings there as a Facebook group for that, there are Twitter hash tags for that. So, this will be something we all look at.
SAVIDGE: Surely, there isn't a conversation where someone comes out and says I support the actions of shooting two police officers.
SEGALL: Absolutely not. But, you know, I think -- and what do I know, but I do think that sometimes when these types of things happen, people look online, they go down this rabbit hole. They find other supporters. They get so angry.
And there are other people. It's not just your friends, and you know, in this physical world to tell you. But it's this whole online community who shares a certain opinion. And, you know, I think sometimes you -- people can lose that ability to really make sense of things, to really come out and say, well, this is really how I feel and this is how I feel, and let's have a conversation. Oftentimes, these online forums can go into a dark place too.
SAVIDGE: We should let you know we are stabbing by, waiting for a news conference that's going to be held by the New York City Police Department. In fact, the New York City police commissioner is expected to be there, as well as the mayor, which could produce some very interesting interaction between those two, because of the friction that has been about for the past couple weeks between the police department and the mayor's office.
Tom, social media and the monitoring of it by law enforcement -- this is a new age. I presume, what, local police departments certainly on the federal level, they monitor a lot of conversation all of the time.
FUENTES: Well, not as much as you think, Martin, because they just can't. They don't have the resources to track tens of thousands of people that are on there, especially, you know, the issue like this one that's become a national debate. So, the police really, what they rely on are people in the community or people that are aware of these postings, to call the police and say, I think this person's crossing the line. I think this person may be intending violence or intending harm, on one side or the other.
And, you know, that's necessary in every type of investigation -- from terrorism to any kind of crime that might occur. So I think that, you know, the notion that the police can track every one of these is just not out there. And, again, if this person -- the shooter in this case posted on Instagram, you know, what time it was posted, who saw it, who read it, and if he returned to his home area back in Brooklyn, you know, where he's familiar with that, you know, a lot of his friends or anybody else might not have been aware he was even back in town.
And when you post, I'm going to put two pigs in a blanket, where? You know, if that was true, allegedly, he just killed a woman in Baltimore. So, you know, how would anybody know, in fact, or was it posted? I didn't see that he was going to go from Baltimore to New York and kill NYPD officers.
SAVIDGE: And we are still working on sort of drawing that linkage right now. Laurie Segall helping us to do that.
Alexandra Field is at the hospital where this press conference is expected to get under way.
What's the delay? Can you tell, Alexandra?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Absolutely, we can't tell, martin. There is a tremendous media presence here, obviously. We wanted to carefully facilitate the setup so they have been bringing us in groups to the auditorium. We could be waiting for a few others.
But we know that time is being taken right now for the NYPD presumably and others who gathered here to meet with family. We understand families of both the officers who were shot and killed have arrived at the hospital. So, it makes some sense they are meeting perhaps with the NYPD top brass, presumably.
I can't confirm this. We know that top brass is here. We another there are also so many NYPD officers here to show support, to show solidarity.
And the sight of it is just incredibly striking, Martin, and really quite heartbreaking. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced, attending a press conference for the NYPD or anyone else. We got off the elevators here at Woodhull Medical Center, and you couldn't even count the number of officers who were in the hallway that, frankly, you could hear a pin drop -- just the most somber and silent tone through the hallways here.
People trying to be respectful, people obviously grieving and frankly quite shocked, because we know that 35,000 officers in the NYPD put their lives on the line every day. We know they do dangerous work. And they expose themselves to dangerous situations.
But this is the kind of situation that must truly strike fear in the heart of every officer, in every officer's family member. Not just in the city, but frankly across the country, because the details we know here are so chilling, two officers sitting in a patrol car, having apparently had no confrontation whatsoever with this suspect when they were ambushed. This is something so many people are going to take home tonight. It's truly chilling.
We are already seeing expressions and outpouring of support, not just from the community here in New York, not just from fellow NYPD officers but from other police departments across the country. The Los Angeles Police Department apparently tweeting that their officers will wear those black arm bands, mourning bands, in an expression of solidarity for their comrades here in New York.
And, again, Martin, we are just standing by, we are waiting to hear from the commissioner of the NYPD. We are waiting to hear from New York PD Mayor Bill de Blasio. We were told this would start at 7:00, but for whatever reason, they're going to take the time they need, whether to comfort the family of the victims or to continue to gather information, because we should underscore the point --
SAVIDGE: Right. And --
FIELD: -- they have not publicly confirmed the name of the suspect.
SAVIDGE: It is absolutely understandable that authorities would meet first with the families, and we will wait as long as it takes, and our hearts go out to the families of the fallen officers and to the police department. But I was just curious, has the mayor or the commissioner been seen on-site? Do we know that?
FIELD: We have not personally seen the commissioner and the mayor. We are told that the mayor is on site. I can't confirm whether or not the commissioner is. But we are told that the mayor is here and has been here for some time now.
SAVIDGE: OK. And the reason it's held at the hospital as opposed to, say, city hall, head of the police department, something like that?
FIELD: No explicit reason has been given to us, Martin, at this point. It was a question, obviously, that we asked. We wondered, would they do this here? Would they do this at city hall or at police headquarters?
These two officers were brought here. They brought here in critical condition. They were pronounced dead here. This is naturally where their families would want to come to be right now. So, I think that we can presume that authorities felt that it was appropriate to come here to be with the families and then to bring the press in as they could.
SAVIDGE: All right. Alexandra, please stand by. We'll wait for the news conference to begin.
And again, if you are just joining us, two New York City police officers, according to authorities, were ambushed as they sat in their police car in Brooklyn this afternoon. Both men shot in the head and both men were killed.
We'll take a break and be back with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SAVIDGE: I'm Martin Savidge in New York.
We are waiting for New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio to speak at a news conference at a hospital in Brooklyn. That is where two uniformed police officers died this afternoon after a man walked up to their patrol car and shot them. It happened in the Bedford-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. Witnesses say that a gunman approached a marked patrol car from behind and shot both officers while they sat inside.
Police have identified the suspect who shot himself, we are told, in a subway station while police officers were chasing after him. We've got our cameras live in New York City at the hospital where the New York mayor and police commissioner are about to speak. And of course, we will carry that news conference live the moment that it happens.
Joining us, CNN analyst, Tom Fuentes, former deputy FBI director, and CNN Money tech correspondent, Laurie Segall, and also on the phone is former Los Angeles Police Officer David Klinger.
David, let me bring you in first, and just ask -- there has to be already so much being said in the law enforcement community about this, even though, of course, from where you are, it's across the country. What's being said? What do you know?
DAVID KLINGER, FORMER L.A. POLICE OFFICER: Well, what I know is that many of my colleagues here were still in law enforcement and retired officers. I left the force 30 years ago after I left L.A., went to a small town, live in Washington, but I have a lot of friends in law enforcement. And we have been talking amongst ourselves about the potential for something to bubble up and we might revisit the 1960s, 1970s in terms of attacks on police officers.
And my heart goes out to these -- the families of these two officers and everybody in NYPD. But it's very disconcerting that the fear that many of us have had, that we have not voiced, because we don't want to get some crazy person to go off, be influenced by the thought we might be able to plant in their head. But now it appears we have had the first one, and I my hope is this is not the leading edge but it's possible it could be. And I think we have to be very, very careful where this could lead.
SAVIDGE: And your fear is that through whatever way, the protests or people being angry or apparently dissatisfied with legal decisions made recently in Ferguson and New York they are taking what retribution on law enforcement or people could be motivated to do so.
KLINGER: Absolutely. And I think it's very important to differentiate between the vast majority of the people who have peaceably protested and the fringe. And the fringe will look for an excuse to incite violence.
And there have been all sorts of threats that have been put out over social media. I've heard some chants at some of the protests by the bad people, you know, we want cops to die, so on and so forth. And the good people need to stand up and say this is absolutely
unacceptable. This is far, far, far beyond the pale. And this cannot happen. Because what will happen as tom has indicated, because I've been watching your coverage, this could get very ugly very quick, and not just in terms of what happened in New York, per se.
But if cops are on greater degree of edge, they have to be in order to stay alive. Because people have to understand, these officers, from what I understand, are minding their own business, sitting in a squad car, someone walks up and executes them.
And I have interviewed officers who have been involved in similar situations where it's merely by the grace of God that they survive. And officers, if they are switched on, may be able to notice something untoward coming toward them, someone with ill-intent. But officers are aware that they cannot protect themselves all of the time, 24/7.
SAVIDGE: Right.
KLINGER: And we don't want to have a situation emerge where the lines are drawn even more -- (INAUDIBLE) even more than they are. So, my hope would be that this is just one God awful thing that happened, and that no one else decides to take up weaponry against police in this manner.
Unfortunately, historically, we have had this happen. Tom mentioned the two officers who were ambushed in Las Vegas earlier this year. We had four officers a few years ago in a suburb of Tacoma who are sitting, minding their own business, a man walked in and executed them. And so, this happens periodically.
But if this is the leading edge of a movement, we are going to be in for a very long haul, like we were in the '60s and '70s when we had the peak of American law enforcement officers being murdered.
SAVIDGE: All right. David, hold on just for a moment, please, because I want to remind our viewers, we are standing by for a press conference that is to be held by the New York police commissioner. We also understand the mayor of New York will be there, as well, where we will get the first official update as to how this happened and why this happened, and what is known so far.
Let me bring in Laurie Segall again, because some of this is playing out in social media. Apparently, there was a posting. I'll let you take it from there, at least from what we know so far.
SEGALL: Sure. Police are currently looking at postings, and we have spoken -- we have Alexandra on the ground, and she has spoken to police who said they are currently looking at Facebook. They're looking at Instagram.
I had a source confirm the same thing. And they're looking for a motive. They believe it could have potentially been motivated by some of that anger and some of that frustration. We have been talking about towards the NYPD and a lot of the protesters. But we don't know at this point. But they are currently looking at an Instagram account, at a posting they believe looks like it could have been evidence as to what brought this guy to actually go and commit such a horrific act.
SAVIDGE: Can I ask you why Instagram? We so often hear Facebook, Twitter. Instagram is one that is maybe third on that list.
SEGALL: Sure. Any time one of these -- one of these horrific tragedies happens, oftentimes I look online. And more and more, you are seeing that a lot of people posting about potentially doing something or being more open about their feelings, it's happening on Instagram.
SAVIDGE: Why?
SEGALL: You know, it's an interesting question. When the Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, we found out he had actually deleted his Instagram account. And we were able to dig up some traces of it, and there were some more radicalized posts that a lot of his friends in school didn't know about, because he never posted like that on Facebook.
You know, I think Instagram has become a bit of a social network for people who are able to say a little bit more. Facebook is kind of out there as more public. And Instagram is a little bit less public. A little bit more -- people are a little bit more open about talking about it. So that is something that people are potentially looking at and something we know the NYPD is looking at right now.
SAVIDGE: And, Instagram, just to differentiate between Facebook and Twitter, it's photos, isn't it?
SEGALL: Sure.
SAVIDGE: It's pictures?
SEGALL: It's photos, but it's very simple. Take a photo and write a quick caption. People comment on it. But also there is a photo map, right? You can see -- which I'm sure n NYPD will be doing.
SAVIDGE: Can you follow back on it, much like you can the others?
SEGALL: Sure. You have your geolocation turned on. This is something as we look at the digital evidence, you can see if someone posted if they had geolocation turned on on their phone, you can see on Instagram, there is an actual photo map so you can see if someone posted from one location and how many hours later did they post from another location. And that's something that's all taken into account, especially when something as horrific as this happens.
And there's very likely digital evidence, and there were postings as we're looking at that happened just ten hours before this happened. So that is absolutely something they take into account, Martin.
SAVIDGE: I want to bring in Harry Houck, retired detective from the New York police department. And as always, there are the connections, the conversations had between law enforcement, and I'm wondering, Harry, since last we spoke, what have you heard from your fellow officers?
HARRY HOUCK, RETIRED NYPD OFFICER (via telephone): Well, you know, I have heard a lot of condolences back and forth from officers with what happened. And -- but I haven't heard any new information regarding any investigation of the subject who, you know, allegedly had come from Baltimore.
SAVIDGE: Can I ask you about how deep is the rift and the feelings against the mayor of New York from the police department, and a bit about why it is so strongly felt?
HOUCK: You know, it's pretty evident the way the mayor is speaking when this first happened, that he wasn't in full support of this police officer. And he even mentioned something about an alleged -- the alleged attack on the Brooklyn Bridge where the lieutenant was attacked by -- the officers were attacked by the persons they're looking for now.
So, it doesn't really appear that he is behind the police officers. And it seems he is just behind the demonstrators, and they're going on -- and, you know, the fact there's only 25,000 demonstrators on the street, or we have a population of 8 million people in New York City. That's less than a 30 percent of people.
SAVIDGE: And so, then your feeling is that by not solidly being behind police he could somehow be, what, indirectly encouraging this?
HOUCK: Well, I don't think, you know, he's indirectly encouraging it. But you always -- if you're the mayor of a large city like New York and important city like this where everything that happens here is national news, you know, you should at least give your police officers the benefit of the doubt.
We had a grand jury that worked on the Garner case here, all right, and there is no evidence that there was any misconduct at all in the Garner case. And to come -- for people to come out and say there was misconduct, and then the mayor -- sort of capped that statement in the way that he spoke, and by not talking to police officers, that creates a big problem between him and the police officers.
SAVIDGE: I understand. Thank you for clarifying that for us.
Tom Fuentes, you're also with us again.
Tom, you've been talking to your sources. I'm wondering, what are you hearing and what's new?
FUENTES: Well, I'm not sure how much I can talk about right now, Martin. What I'm hearing is, there's in progress a protest already going on with NYPD officers. And what they're willing to do in terms of enforcement actions right now in the short run. In other words, you know, almost like having the blue flu while they're on duty.
SAVIDGE: Yes. This seems -- I mean, to have this background of conflict between the mayor and the police department at any time is bad, but now especially given the tensions that seem to be felt within the community and now this horrific crime that's been carried out. It only makes it worse.
FUENTES: Right. What I'm being told right now is that the delay in getting this press conference started is because there is tremendous concern at the executive level of NYPD of what's going on with their own officers right at the moment, that there is a lot going on behind the scenes right now. And it's not a good thing.
SAVIDGE: How comfortable is the police commissioner when he is standing next to Mayor de Blasio?
FUENTES: I guess we'll see. Get your body language professionals out, ready to look at that language.
I think -- you know, I think they have to get along and all that. But the police commissioner is in the middle, you know, because he's got a department, and rank-and-file of officers that think that the mayor has, you know, thrown them under the bus, where's the commissioner stand on that? Does he back his police officers? Is he loyal to his mayor? He's right in the middle of this.
So, it will be very interesting to see how the commissioner handles it.
SAVIDGE: Often, the rest of the nation follows, of course, events that happen in New York City. If it happens here, then is -- suggested it could happen almost anywhere. So let me bring back the officer, and I'm sorry, I haven't got the name. David Klinger, former LAPD.
What are the concerns out there in Los Angeles, and prior to this, you must have already -- or those in the department have been thinking this way.
KLINGER: Absolutely. You know, I left L.A. many years ago, talked this evening with a friend of mine out there, and he shares the same concern. The police department protects the mayor, protects his family. I don't think he's going to want the police department to be against him. So, I think that the mayor has got to sit down and first thing he needs to apologize to the police department, apologize to the police officers in this city for the way he's been handling this problem.
SAVIDGE: Harry Houck (ph) who is a retired former police department detective that, of course, even we get to that moment there is the difficulty of dealing with the tragic loss of two New York City police officers who were ambushed today and this is sort of recapping now. It occurred this afternoon in Brooklyn. Reports are the two officers were inside their police vehicle. They were there protecting the neighborhood when it appears that a suspect ambushed them.
That was the description given, shot into their vehicle. Both men were hit. Both of them were hit in the head. And subsequently they died either on the way to the hospital or at the hospital. We are standing by now for a news conference. Several hours passed since that time. The suspect is believed to have come from Baltimore. There are suggestions he may have posted about his actions on the internet which, of course, we're still trying to track down but authorities say the suspect took his own life in a subway station while being chased by authorities. All of this is the early information we are getting. Again, a news conference is expected at any moment. The mayor of New York and the police commissioner. We will bring that to you as soon as it begins.
In the meantime, a neighborhood very much in shock during the holiday period and a neighborhood that is very much on edge as a result of protests in New York and across the country over dissatisfaction over the lack of an indictment in two cases -- one in Missouri and one in New York, that had triggered protests across the nation, did that play in is the big question at the moment. We'll take a break. Be back with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: I'm Martin Savidge in New York. We welcome our international viewers. Let me bring you up to date to where things stand. We are waiting for New York police commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Bill DeBlasio, to speak at a news conference at a hospital in Brooklyn. That's the image you're looking at there on the screen.
And that is where two uniformed police officers died this afternoon, after a man allegedly walked up to their patrol car and shot them. It happened in the Bedford side neighborhood of Brooklyn. Witnesses say that a gunman approached the marked patrol car from behind and shot both police officers while they sat inside.
Police have identified the suspect who allegedly shot himself in a subway station with police officers in chase. We have our cameras live in New York City at a hospital where the New York mayor and the police commissioner are expected to speak at any moment. As soon as they do, we will jump directly to that.
In the meantime, we will carry on our conversations that we have been having with law enforcement panelists, Tom Fuentes, a former deputy FBI director, CNN money tech correspondent Laurie Segall and on the phone, former New York police detective Harry Houck.
Let's talk Laurie about these protests because really for those international audience, our entire audience, we have to understand that there is a background here, a tension, not just in the city but in this nation when it comes to law enforcement and in particular two recent grand jury rulings, one of them out of Ferguson, Missouri and the other one, out of New York, pertaining to the deaths of African- Americans while in the hands of police. You covered the protests here in New York. What is the feeling? How strained is the relationship between --
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: It is strained. The protests here in New York when this decision was made with the Eric Gardner case, you know, it was very -- they were mainly peaceful. People looked at Ferguson and said we -- SAVIDGE: Let me interrupt you -- because I think we're getting indications that we may be very close -- where watching the pressers underway. Let's listen now.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: All set.
WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The mayor and I have just come from visiting with the families of our two murdered police officers. It's a time of great emotion, and great passion.
And so please be aware of this as we try to bring some sense to the madness that occurred this afternoon in the streets of Brooklyn. Sometimes, it's difficult to find the words to speak to -- events like those that occurred today and try to make sense of them but we'll try.
Today two of New York's finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation. They were quite simply assassinated. Targeted for their uniform and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe. At approximately 2:47 p.m. today, Police Officer Wenjian Liu and Police Officer Rafael Ramos were assigned to a critical response vehicle, CRVs are we referred to them in the confines of the 79 precinct.
While CRVs are traditionally used for counter terrorism operations, this past May we also assigned some vehicles to housing development throughout the city. Developments that had seen an increase in violence in the early part of the year, like the Tompkins houses where the officers were stationed.
While sitting in a marked NYPD police car, in full uniform, both were ambushed and murdered in front of 98 Tompkins Avenue in the Bedford- Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York City. Both officers were assigned to the 84 precinct. They were posted at this location as part of the Department's crime strategy, to address complaints of violence in the area of the housing developments in that area. Officer Ramos was in the driver's seat and Officer Liu was in the front passenger seat beside him.
According to witness statements, the suspect who has been identified as 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, walked up to the police car. He took a shooting stance on the passenger side and fired the weapon -- his weapon several times through the front passenger window, striking both officers in the head.
Officer Liu and Officer Ramos never had the opportunity to draw their weapons. They may never have actually even seen their assailant, their murderer. Other officers also assigned to the CRV post immediately pursued Brinsley southbound on Tompkins Avenue. Brinsley then turned westbound on Myrtle Avenue and fled into the Myrtle Avenue Willoughby Street, the G train subway station.
He proceeded down the stairs on to the westbound subway platform. While on the platform, Brinsley shot himself in the head. Took his own life. A silver semi automatic firearm was recovered on the subway platform near the suspect's body. Officers Liu and Ramos were transported here to Woodhull Hospital. Despite every effort to save their lives, both officers tragically succumbed to their injuries.
On behalf of the New York City Police Department, I extend my deepest condolences to Liu and the Ramos' families and the families within the NYPD. Both officers paid the ultimate sacrifice today while protecting the communities they serve. The suspect was transported to Brooklyn Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. We are currently continuing to investigate this incident. I want to thank at this time Dr. Ju and his trauma staff for their valiant efforts but unsuccessful efforts to resuscitate our officers.
Some background information relative to the events leading up to the murder of our two officers today. At approximately 5:45 this morning in Baltimore County, Maryland, a female believed to be Brinsley's former girlfriend, was shot and seriously wounded by Brinsley at her residence. Baltimore county detectives later received information from the victim's mother that Brinsley was posting on the victim's Instagram account.
Further information was developed indicating that Brinsley may have had associations with the east flat bush area of Brooklyn. At approximately 2:45 this afternoon, Baltimore authorities sent a fax, a warning flier, a wanted flyer to the NYPD and other agencies. Tragically, this was essentially at the same time as our officers were being ambushed and murdered by brinsley.
Tragically too, this is not the first time this department has seen such violence. Seven times since 1972, we have seen partners murdered together, often in incidents such as this, mindless assassinations without warning. Our officers know this, from the memorial walls on our precincts and headquarters. And from the stories they hand down. Nevertheless, they do what we expect of them. They grieve, they mourn, but then they go out on to the streets of the city and work to keep it safe. Every day and every night. We have never and never will forget that mission. We will never forget the two young men who lost their lives today. Mr. Mayor?
BILL DEBLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Thank you, commissioner. Our city is in mourning. Our hearts are heavy. We lost two good men who devoted their lives to protecting all of us. Officer Ramos, Officer Liu, died in the line of duty. Protecting the city they loved. Our hearts go out to their families, to their comrades in arms at the 84 Precinct, to the larger family of the NYPD.
We honor the EMTs, the doctors, the nurses, everyone at Woodhull who tried valiantly to save their lives and couldn't. I want to thank everyone who came here today to support these families that are in such pain right now, all the leadership of the NYPD, the elected officials are here. I thank them for coming here in solidarity with these grieving families and our police department.
Although we are still learning the details, it's clear this was an assassination. These officers were shot execution style, particularly despicable act, which those at the very heart of our society and our democracy, when a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our society. It is an attack on all of us. We depend on our police to protect us against the forces of criminality and evil. They are a foundation of our society. And when they are attacked, it is an attack on the very concept of decency. Therefore, every New Yorker should feel they, too, were attacked; our entire city was attacked by this heinous individual.
Even though the assailant took his own life, we'll be vigilant for any information about anyone else who might be involved. And this is a point to make clear to all my fellow New Yorkers. That any time anyone has information that there might be an attack on our police, there might be an act of violence directed at any police officer, it is imperative that that be reported immediately.
You heard the commissioner outline the tragic timeline. But anybody who sees a posting on the internet or any other indication of an intention to attack the police must report it immediately. Call 9-1-1, report it to a police officer. But whatever the situation, that information must get into the hands of the police immediately so we can protect the lives of our police officers and, in fact, of all of us since they protect us.
There is a sadness that is very, very hard to describe. Commissioner Bratton has felt it many times. I have felt it many times. We met the family members. We met the parents of Officer Liu, the woman he recently married. We met the wife of Officer Ramos. We met his 13- year-old son who couldn't comprehend what had happened to his father. And with other public servants and with leaders of this police department, we pray over the bodies of these two police officers.
I ask that all New Yorkers pray for them, pray for their families. It's a moment of terrible loss and it's a moment when we must all come together to support these families. Support healing. And to be thankful that there are heroes among us like Officer Ramos and Officer Liu.
I'd like to say a few words in Spanish, as well. (Speaking in foreign language)
UNIDENTIFED MALE: We can take a few questions.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BRATTON: There is no more emotional time in the life of a police officer in policing than when a death occurs. A death of this nature, an assassination, it's unlike any other type of emotion that -- it's hard to deal with. It's hard to get your arms around. The grief that the mayor and I just experienced with what the family is going through. And I met with the officers in the 8-4 precinct, the department of the officers, the two deceased police officers. It's not easy. It's not easy at all.
I've dealt with this too many times over 44 years. You always hope that you're never going to experience it again. And the idea of a double -- double tragedy. Here we are coming into Christmas week where we celebrate a birth. A birth that has changed history for 2,000 years. And, instead, in this week, in this city, in this department, we're going to be mourning. We're going to be dealing with the death of two young men that fulfilled their dreams to be police officers.
One officer only married Officer Liu two months ago. The other officer, Officer Ramos, was school safety officer for many years before finally fulfilling his dream to become a New York City police officer three years ago. He just had his 40th birthday on December 12th. You try to put your arm around it. You try to make sense out of it. You really can't. It's maybe a tough time for the men and women of this department, tough time for the New York City Police Department. But they'll do what we expect of them. That's what cops do. And it's not easy
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) there were postings, apparently by this individual, we believe, on Instagram, on social media.
BRATTON: They were postings apparently by the individual, we believe on Instagram, the Instagram account of the woman that was wounded in Baltimore. And part of our investigation will be to determine what was the motivation to the best of our understanding. So those Instagram postings, which were very anti-police, based on the briefing I had, will also seek to go back over time into this suspect's life as to whether there were other postings he had as he was coming to New York. Those are part of multiple investigations that are now underway to try and make sense of what was his motivation to come to New York and murder two New York City police officers.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Although, officer, it seems to me -- it seems to me that you can't go over the whole purpose of assassinating police officers.
BRATTON: That is a part of what we will attempt to determine. Some of the postings, which I understand are out there would seem to be that he had a very strong bias against police officers.
And as to whether that was the principal motivation or whatever went on with him and the girlfriend this morning, we'll try as part of our investigation to put together what was the actual motivation.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BRATTON: I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BRATTON: His latest residence, as best we can determine, is Georgia. But he's a individual who appears to move around. He's got a girlfriend in Baltimore. He comes to New York to murder two police officers. He does have some connectivity to Brooklyn, but I won't go into the specifics of that at this time. We're still trying to really put together his movements and where he's been over these last number of days and weeks and months.
Excuse me, one at a time, please. (INAUDIBLE).
We have no sense at this time that there's any connectivity to terrorist groups, an act of terrorism. We see nothing of that nature at this particular time. Commissioner Miller and his people are certainly looking at that aspect of it. Chief Boyce, chief of detectives, he'll be in charge of leading the criminal investigation. We don't see any organized activities, but we're really trying to learn as much as we can as quickly as we can about this individual.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BRATTON: We're always concerned with that that you may recall several weeks ago after four young officers were attacked by an individual with a hatchet. Our investigation of that clearly indicated that that was an act of terrorism. That that individual had become inspired to commit that act by continual canvassing of web sites and in particular, ISIS-related web sites increasingly over the last couple of weeks of his life. And we put out notices to our officers, similar to what the federal government has been putting out about the growing concern of lone wolf type of attacks to the extent that encouraging officers to work in pairs, increase security around our station houses.
