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Two New York Police Shot and Killed; Press Conference by New York Mayor and Police Commissioner

Aired December 20, 2014 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CHIEF BILL BRATTON, NEW YORK CITY POLICE: So one of the unfortunate realities of policing is that you put that blue uniform on, and you become part of that thin, blue line between us and anarchy.

And from time to time we are victimized by it as certainly had happened today. The specific motivation, hopefully, we'll be able to determine that but at the moment that's what we're still attempting to investigate.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) from the mayor, to think this attack is going to (INAUDIBLE)?

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK: I think this is a time to think about these families. I don't think it's a time for politics or political analysis. It's a time to think about families that just lost their father, their husband, their son. And we met those families. And what we should be thinking about now is how to support these families and how to ensure that not only our communities are safe, but our officers are safe.

That's why I'm saying there is something important here. This individual, this horrible assassin, put information on the Internet. It was a very, very brief timeline. But there may be other people posting things like this. And what we should focus on is if anybody knows of anybody, puts information like that on the Internet, or says it to someone, it has to be reported right away so we can protect our officers, protect, again, our entire civilization.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

BRATTON: Nothing of this nature, at least in terms of some of the postings that this individual may have made this afternoon. Let's face it, there's been, not just in New York, but throughout the country, a very strong anti-police, anti-criminal justice system, anti-societal set of initiatives underway. And one of the unfortunate aspects sometimes is some people get caught up in these and go in directions they should not.

As to whether this individual was part of any of that, part of any demonstrations here, Atlanta, where we believe his last residence, that's part of the investigation to determine what has he been doing these last several weeks and try to put some sanity to the madness that occurred here this afternoon in the streets of Brooklyn.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) BRATTON: Yes. Actually we can give that out separately.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

BRATTON: OK. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

BRATTON: The protocols that we put in place several weeks ago and looking through as much as possible continuing to remind our officers about the importance of watching out for each other, if you will. But, please, the mayor is making to the public that if they're aware of somebody whose sentiments are starting to go over the line from just talking about it to actually threatening or seeking to carry out attacks against not only police, but other officials, that this is -- in some respects, it's like the homeland security advisory.

See something, say something. And it doesn't just relate to terrorism. It relates to so many other issues. The tragedy here was that just as the warning was coming in, the murder was occurring. And there's another irony here that we hope within a year, the mayor has made available a huge amount of money recently that we did several press conferences that we hope to equip every officer in the department with a smart phone and put into every one of our vehicles tablets that would have allowed that in an incident like this, where we have a photograph, well, the officers would get a description, but they would not see the photograph unless we're at a roll call.

We could have instantly sent out to all 35,000 of our officers, here's a picture of an individual you need to be watching for because he has indicated he is going to attack police or when we're missing a child -- children. So the technology is coming. And here's an example of how we try to benefit the safety of our officers and the public as we go forward.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

BRATTON: We have no information to that effect at this time. As you'll appreciate it's what we do in the investigation. Canvassing the neighborhood. Looking at the various cameras that might have been in the neighborhood, talking to people who might have been on the street, people who are in the buildings adjacent to where the shooting occurred.

And, in that regard, if anybody seeing these newscasts reading about this aware that they may have information that might be an assistance to us, we essentially certainly encourage that they call us and give us that information, at least give us the opportunity to talk with them to see if information they might have might be helpful to us in the investigation.

I've already indicated that we don't at this early stage of investigation see any linkage to terrorism or radical groups. That's what we hope as we go forward as we get access to (INAUDIBLE) with somebody that had social media accounts. We have not encountered that yet just as the incident occurred just about four hours ago. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, everybody.

BRATTON: Thank you. Appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Members of the media, please, just hang tight.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: And that was New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, finishing there. He was also joined by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Both men, extremely somber, and, at times, both men appeared to be emotional with the information that they were conveying. You could see the shock on their faces. I recognize that face.

That's the face of a person who has had to tell a family the most distressing of news. And that is the loss of their loved one. And that is clearly what they have to do as they said that they met with the family members of those two murdered police officers shortly before briefing everyone else on the events that happened.

The information is still coming in, but, essentially, these two officers, Officer Liu and Officer Ramos were in their vehicle, in Brooklyn, when, at 2:47 this afternoon, a suspect identified as 28- year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley approached on the passenger side and, according to witnesses, took a shooting stance and fired multiple shots through that passenger window striking both officers in the head. They eventually died either on the way to the hospital or at the hospital, despite attempts to save their life.

Then police on foot began a pursuit of the suspect that ended up with a subway station of the G Train. And apparently it was on the platform of that station that the suspect allegedly took his own life with a gunshot. But apparently, according to authorities, this actually began early this morning in Baltimore with a shooting in which that suspect is alleged to have fired at his girlfriend, wounding her seriously, and then began posting on the Internet about his intentions.

Baltimore Police later learned he had a connection to Brooklyn. They transmitted, via fax, to the New York Police Department at 2:45, almost the instant which the shots were being fired. A warning to NYPD but it was too late.

Right now, Tom Fuentes, if you're still with us, having heard all of this, having been in law enforcement, just what do you think?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Martin, you can see that, you know, for a police department, the death of one or two officers like we've just had is a death in the family. And, frankly, for all police officers, you know, across the country and around the world, these type of events are a death in family.

And, you know, you see especially in Commissioner Bratton you see the difficulty in trying to maintain composure and be stoic but he's lost, you know, two of his officers and it's a horrible tragedy and he'd met with the families and our hearts go out to the families and to the fellow officers. This is a traumatic, horrible event to have happened to a police department, to a community.

SAVIDGE: Mayor de Blasio put out a warning to the public to essentially say that the suspect may have, it appears, communicated in some way on social media. And in the future, if anyone were to see, they should, if you see something, say something. I think many Americans may be under the belief that law enforcement already monitors all of social media and that they would have instantly been aware of but apparently that's not the case.

FUENTES: No. It's not the case. But, you know, in a situation like this, you know, let's just say hypothetically NYPD got the warning one or two hours earlier, imagine the difficulty for the officers on the street then to -- if they didn't have a clear description of the subject, to start stop and frisk on young African-American males in the bed sty area of Brooklyn, looking for someone that's got a gun.

I mean, these are the type of tensions that are going on and the type of concerns that uniformed police officers have had on the street and will continue to have.

SAVIDGE: I want to bring in now Gil Alba. He joins us. He's a former NYPD officer. And first of all, of course, our condolences to the NYPD.

Gill, what's your thoughts on what you've heard about how this happened and where we go from here?

GIL ALBA, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, these are two New Yorkers, first of all. During the holidays. And they get assassinated. They have blue uniforms on and they were assassinated. So they're really just New Yorkers just like everybody else. New York -- NYPD has been getting a bad rap in the last couple of months. But these guys weren't even in that precinct. They weren't even assigned to that precinct. They were there doing overtime or something, so watching the projects because the crime is a little higher there.

So they're staying that. But there's no way that they're going to know that somebody is going to attack them from behind and start shooting them. So there's no way to really prepare for that. And all the other officers tomorrow are going to go to work. They're maybe a little more aware, but they're going to go to work just like they are today. They're going to be down at Times Square or by the tree with millions of people and they're going to do their job.

So this is a really unfortunate incident that happened to New Yorkers in general. And I believe that most New Yorkers really support the New York City Police Department.

SAVIDGE: Are you concerned that this, in any way, could be the beginning of a trend?

ALBA: No, that's not going to be a trend. This happened years ago, it was a trend. This guy is from out of town. He contemplated this himself. Premeditated this himself. Drew it up how he wanted to do it. Had the intentions of killing two cops and then killing himself in the long run. Usually, when somebody assassinates police officers or shoots police officers, and you go near them, they shoot themselves because that's what cowards they are. Just like this guy. So this guy had the intention. Could he just went to any police officers or any police department in the city, any place in the world and shoot somebody? Yes. But he came to New York City and sought these two people that were totally innocent.

And, you know, this is going to be etched in all these officers' minds for the rest of their lives. All these officers that were shot in the same manner in New York City. It's etched in almost every police officer whether you're retired or a future police officer. This will remain in their minds.

SAVIDGE: This has been talked about even prior to today's tragedy but there has been a falling out between, I would say the mayor and the New York City Police Department from the way you heard the police commissioner and the mayor speak tonight, do you see, perhaps, a difference?

ALBA: Yes, there's a big difference actually, and I'm not sure. This is my opinion. The police commissioner went up there and talked about two New York City police officers being assassinated. The mayor comes down and looks extremely nervous. However, the mayor I think should have been the one that's giving all the information out to -- to talk to the people of New York and tell them what a tragedy this is. And he should be doing all the talking.

They asked him a political question and he, you know, diverted to something else. But you know, he has to realize that they're going to ask him all these kinds of questions at some point. He went to the families. And he visited the families and that was a really, really good thing. I hope the families accepted him. Because what's going on in the police department right now is -- you know, they were signing these petitions. If anybody dies, not to have the mayor attend.

So hopefully this starts -- you're talking about trends, hopefully, this starts some kind of trend between the community and the police. I'm sure the community and (INAUDIBLE) and the police were getting much better during this time. So this kind of -- you know, you bring an outsider, somebody who's from outside come in and shoot somebody. And that's what happens with these demonstrations. There's outsiders and there's gang people. And they instigate these young people. And that's really what's happening. But as far as I'm concerned, there is no -- the majority of New Yorkers are for the New York City Police Department.

SAVIDGE: Gil Alba is a former New York City police detective. Thank you, sir. And, again, our condolences to you and your department and to the families.

Laurie Segall, I want to bring you in to the conversation here because the mayor talked about social media. We know that in some way there was a posting it appears that this suspect made on social media. Basically, what can we say so far?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think he referenced multiple times these clues and how they looked at an Instagram post with him threatening violence against cops. And he said something we certainly can't say and, you know, he also said that after shooting his girlfriend, he posted on her Instagram account. You can see the role that this medium is playing in trying to figure out and piece together what happened here.

You know, I will say it was very interesting to see them talk about what you mentioned before, if you see something, say something. You know? It used to be if you were on the subway and something didn't look right, you see something, you say something.

Now you hear from the NYPD, you hear that the Internet is a new form, and that now we all have a social responsibility, if you see someone threatening, which it looks and it sounds like from what we're hearing here that someone was absolutely threatening to harm cops, to shoot cops. You know, that there is a responsibility to say something.

And another thing I thought was very interesting, you know, they talk about at the same time of the Brooklyn NYPD ambush, the Baltimore Police sent that fax to the NYPD warning them, saying he shot his girlfriend in Baltimore, that he might be headed this way. And, you know, what you heard and come out and say is we hope to get the money and to pour money into this department so all police officers can have the smart phone and a tablet. So this isn't the day --

SAVIDGE: These are all things we take for granted.

SEGALL: Yes. This isn't just a fax coming through. And, you know, it's a way of protecting your own force. That's something that really I think played a huge role as we also really learn a lot about what could be behind it. And as we hear -- confirm to some of these social media posts, you see that, you know, he says this wasn't a terrorist attack. You know, this is -- this is him talking specifically about this tension that we've been talking about earlier before this.

SAVIDGE: I want to bring in Alexandra Field because she has been at the hospital there with the press conference just concluded and where the officers were taken.

Alexandra, what is the feeling now? I don't think she can hear me right now.

Alexandra, can you hear me? It's Martin Savidge and I was wondering --

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, I've got you now.

SAVIDGE: OK.

FIELD: I've got you now, Martin.

SAVIDGE: I was just asking, you know, in the aftermath of this pretty remarkable press conference and what we've learned, what is the feeling now?

FIELD: You know, you watched it for yourself, Martin. I think that we were all struck not only by the huge group of NYPD officers that we saw on the way in here, that very somber mood that we talked about, you know, the quietness where you could hear a pin drop in the hallways. But you heard reflected certainly in the voice of Commissioner Bratton. He's spoken such hushed tone that reporters were sort of closing in and crowding in, hanging on his every word and trying to hear what he was saying.

The same sort of tone reflected by the mayor. And they really wanted to spend a lot of the time focusing on their two comrades, two NYPD officers who were, as they called it, assassinated. Murdered by a suspect who they say, you know, these two officers probably never saw coming.

They did take us through some of the details of what happened. We do understand that these are two officers again who were not working in their precinct. They were in Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. They're in what's called a critical response vehicle. And we know now that they had been positioned there because of complaints of violence in this area. These officers in their patrol car.

Police say the suspect approached from the passenger side window, fired those several shots, hitting both of the officers in the head. The officers later pronounced dead.

The tone in here obviously just an incredibly, enormously sad day for this department, for police departments across the country where the mayor say that they lost two good men, two people who had devoted their lives to service. We know that a lot of the attention right now is on the suspect. The investigation has revealed to officers that this is somebody who targeted these two men because they were wearing police uniforms.

But the question that hasn't been answered yet is exactly what motivated this attack. What was the specific grudge with law enforcement that caused this suspect to act out in his horrible and violent way today? Was there a specific grudge that he led with these officers that led to this attack? Those are questions that they're not addressing at this point.

They do say again, as Laurie has been taking us through, but they're going to look at social media postings to try and get a better understanding of what that specific motivation may have been but from the officers that we heard here today, from the commissioner, from the mayor himself, a lot of the talk today about the service of these two officers and service of all NYPD officers, who do put their lives on the line every day, and have been targets of attacks twice now in the last month in this city.

SAVIDGE: OK. Alexandra, thank you very much for that.

I want to turn to Errol Lewis, certainly, a person who knows New York, knows law enforcement here and has covered it from the perspective of the media.

Aaron, from what you've heard, from what you've saw, your feelings? ERROL LEWIS, NEW YORK RESIDENT: You know, Martin, great, great

sadness for a lot of people. You know, New Yorkers, you know, we have a lot of differences about a lot of different issues. We've sort of played those issues out in the political arena, sometimes out in the street, even, with protests. But this is something different and it really strikes right at the heart of the city.

You know, my dad was -- is a retired inspector at NYPD and I have a sister who's also a detective. She's also retired now. And, you know, my main feeling goes out to what they said was the 13-year-old son of Officer Ramos, you know, now. You know, I mean, we all, growing up, you know, you grow up in a household with cops.

And, you know, you put it to the back of your mind because you know the risks are under control and you know that there's a professionalism and there's protection and there's, you know, safety in numbers. But, in the back of your mind, there's always that possibility that, you know, maybe daddy doesn't come home tomorrow. You know. And that is a very grievous wound.

I should also mention, though, Martin, that there's -- there are -- you know, tomorrow there's going to be a lot of finger pointing. There's a lot of rage just bubbling under the surface. And, you know --

SAVIDGE: Who's going to point at who, Errol?

LEWIS: Well, you know, the police union. The PBA was already in a very hot tempered war of words with the mayor. There was a march for -- I mean, you know, for all of the mayor saying if you see something, say something, well, you know, there was a march through the streets of New York. And, you know, there were cameras on it and everything, with people saying what do we want, dead cops. When do we want it, now. You know, that kind of stuff.

That's how ugly it had started to get in recent days. And, you know, to act as if this was just a matter of, well, if only we've been able to, you know, get this image and this warning out to a bunch of cops, electronically, they might have been on higher alert, no. The rhetoric was already getting out of control. The rhetoric was getting very heated and very angry. And as I mentioned, you know, we've had a series of protest. We've been kind of politically fighting this out in the streets, as far as the right kind of policing. The right way to deal with police uses of force.

(CROSSTALK)

SAVIDGE: What about the protest that might come out and say that this was the wrong way to deal with emotions that seem to be triggered by dissatisfaction with a previous police action? In other words, do you think those who have protested so strongly now should come out and support or at least express that this was wrong?

LEWIS: Well, you know, there's -- there's already some signs on Twitter, certainly, and there's already been some signs that one of the main groups that call themselves the New York City Justice League, that they're going to have a candlelight vigil tomorrow to try and sort of, you know, maybe move this -- the whole conversation about policing to a different and better place. That's a step in the right direction.

But that's about the first step backwards that we've heard from the various (INAUDIBLE) and sides here. It's been a very big vigorous and increasingly angry debate. And it got even angrier just the other day when a couple of cops who were policing one of the many, many, many demonstrations going on that attacked. You know, that they got beaten up. They got jumped. You know. That has not been part of what was going on here until recently.

There were a number of conservatives who probably didn't really like them there in the first place, to be honest about it. But they've been saying the mayor needs to reassert control. That it's not enough to say there's a First Amendment right to protest if you don't know who's out there protesting, who they are or what their motives are. So there was going to be some recrimination and some finger pointing anyway.

But it's now -- it's going to be that much more bitter. It's going to be that much more emotional now that these two guys, you know, members of our city, were murdered, were assassinated this way. I mean, it's -- you know, it takes almost nothing away from it the fact that it was an outsider, although that is of course, I think, in some regards for people to understand that, you know, it's not like New York is tearing itself apart literally in this violent way.

But, you know, why do I think that this was a place to come and do that? You know, that's something we should all be asking ourselves as New Yorkers.

SAVIDGE: And the mayor made the point that of course this was not just an attack against two officers, this was an attack against an entire city. And clearly, he's trying to say that all have to come together at this horrible time.

Laurie Segall, let me bring you in again because this goes to the statements that Commissioner Bratton was talking about that apparently posting online by this particular suspect that they have identified is 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the commissioner said we're very -- he showed a very strong bias against police officers and that he was very anti-police.

I mean, does that reflect sort of what you're hearing and finding as you dig in?

SEGALL: Sure. I will say one of the -- one of the last photos on his Instagram I saw, it's been since taken down, was -- it literally said, "I'm putting wings on pigs today. They took one of ours, let's take two of theirs." And it said #shootthepolice, #ericgarner, #restinpeacemikebrown. And it said, "This might be my final post." There was an emoji of a gun with bullets coming out of it.

So obviously when you -- when you hear Commissioner Bratton talking about that social media post, and what -- you know, what potentially led the police to believe, you begin to connect the dots again.

We're looking right now at his Facebook page. You know, a couple of posts 11 hours ago, the gunman posted, "I always wanted to be known for doing something right. But my past is stalking me and my present is haunting me." Well, an hour before that, "Why live if you don't love to live?"

Right now, you're looking at that Instagram post. This is a post, he put #shootthepolice with blood on his leg. So obviously these guys are looking at these digital clues and beginning to piece together the profile of someone who had so much anger towards the police, that they would be capable of doing something as horrific and tragic as this.

SAVIDGE: This is posted for everyone to see.

SEGALL: Yes.

SAVIDGE: So why isn't someone immediately saying this is a problem, this person is dangerous, report them then?

SEGALL: Yes. And check out this photo right here. This was up before it was taken down. You know, you had people, before it was taken down, liking it and commenting on it. And I think this is why when you hear the NYPD get out there, you hear the commissioner, the mayor, get out there and say if you see something, say something. This is almost a new call to arms for people on the Internet.

And friends of friends who, you know, might have anger issues or anything like this, to say something when you see something as horrific and as damning as this posts were. Because looking at his digital profile, there were many clues that he was about to do something pretty horrific.

SAVIDGE: Tom, let me ask you this. We're talking about these postings that clearly if somebody was shouting that, saying that in public, you would call the cops. But because it's posted on the Internet, I'm wondering, do people take a different attitude? Like, he's just blowing off steam or he's just saying something -- you know, in other words, they don't take it as seriously.

FUENTES: I think that's probably true, Martin, because of the anonymity most of the times on some of the post postings, you know, maybe people don't take it completely seriously. But my question is, and this is still goes back to the question of policing, having been a street cop for more than six years before 30 years in the FBI.

What would the NYPD had done had they gotten the information? Imagine, you know, that they start in the middle of the afternoon in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, stopping every young black man who may possibly meet this kid's description or this subject's description because he might have a gun and might intend to shoot police?

I mean, I don't know what they would have gone had they gotten the information.

SAVIDGE: I am struck by the fact that this was communicated via fax. SEGALL: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Which -- you know, it just sounds to many of us in this digital age so outdated. But is that the way that police departments communicate, Tom?

FUENTES: No, no. You send, you know, communications faster than by fax. Maybe it was the use of words, to put it that way. But no, cables are sent back and forth between police departments, alerts through a variety of systems that can go interstate, police-to-police, or department-to-department or, just in general to everybody.

In this case, you know, they had information from what they were hearing, probably from the girlfriend or -- or her mother, that he may have had intentions to go to Brooklyn, which is why they've sent the, you know, fax to or the cable to Brooklyn, to NYPD in Brooklyn.

But, again, you know, I'd like to hear a police officer in management position today say what would they do had they gotten that information in that community at this time, with everything that's been going on politically and in public and the protest and everything, if they start aggressively doing a stop and frisk on young black males in Brooklyn?

SAVIDGE: Yes. That has already been a huge issue within the city.

Gil Alba is still with us. He's a retired former New York Police Department detective.

Gil, I'm wondering, you know, what comes next in the department itself, for the officers? They put on the uniform, they put on the badge and they go to work again tomorrow, all of them, but this must hang very heavy.

ALBA: Yes, 35,000 New York City police officers and they're all going to go to work tomorrow. And New York City is the Mecca of the world, the city, as far as that's concerned. So they know what they do. They know their job. They know what they have to do. And I'm sure they're going to be comfortable with that, doing their jobs.

Are they going to be a little more aware of what happened? Yes, of course they are. Is this incident going to stick in their minds? Yes, it's going to stick in their minds for the rest of their lives. It's going to be etched in their minds. All the officers that were killed in the line of duty are etched in every police officers' mind from the time that -- you know, before to future police officers.

So this is a major, major event. And it's only not New York City. This is law enforcement around the world, basically, but in America that something like this would come in. An assassination like this. You're talking about having the craziest information about an assassination and could this have been prevented?

This is the element of surprise. This guy intended, he premeditated how to kill these guys, what he was going to do, where he was going to do and then kill himself. So he had no fear of what he was going to do. So it's almost -- it's not impossible to stop these guys, because, you know, you had some kind of evidence ahead of time that something could happen. But it's -- you know, what could they have done? They're sitting in their car. They're eating. They're from a different precinct. So they're all relaxed.

And somebody comes and shoots them from, you know, right by the passenger side and shoots them both in the head. So how can you prevent something like that?

SAVIDGE: Right.

ALBA: So this is a major, major tragedy in New York City.

SAVIDGE: It is, indeed. Gil Alba, thank you very much for the insight there.

In case you're just joining us, the conversation is about the assassination, as both the mayor and the police commissioner put it, of the two New York police officers as they sat in their patrol car this afternoon in Brooklyn. The suspect then was chased by other law enforcement and reportedly took his own life at a subway station.

The investigation now is trying to focus on what was the motivation behind this kind of blatant attack in broad daylight on two officers that were not in any way prepared at that instant for what happened. They were both shot in the head.

There was a news conference that was held a short time ago. Included the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, and the police commissioner, William Bratton.

Let's listen to some of the commissioner's comments here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRATTON: The mayor and I have just come from visiting with the families of the two murdered police officers. A time of great emotion, of great passion. And so please bear with us as we try to bring some sense to the madness that occurred this afternoon in the streets of Brooklyn.

Sometimes difficult to find the words to speak to events like those that occurred today, to 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 as we referred to them, in the confines of the 7-9 precinct. While CRV is traditionally used for counterterrorism operations, this past May, we also assigned some vehicles to housing developments throughout the city. Developments that have seen an increase in violence in the early part of the year, like the Tompkins Houses near 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 8-4 precinct but were posted at this location as part of the Department Crime Reduction 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 who were 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 and 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 semiautomatic Taurus 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 Flatbush 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And that is New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton there, at this part of the briefing that is held by him and the mayor, Bill de Blasio, as they talk about what they both described as the assassination of two New York City police officers.

Alexander Field was at that press conference.

And even here in the studio, Alexandra, you can sense the emotion that must have been so powerful in that room.

FIELD: It's just an enormously painful day. And you can feel it -- yes, in that newsroom, in this hospital and frankly around the city if not around the country right now, all eyes are on what has happened in New York City. This, bringing to light a lot of questions about how police officers are protected.

Now this is the second attack in a month on police officers in New York City. Just a month that hatchet attack on a group of officers. Today, two police officers shot and killed. Officers in this city, in the wake of that prior attack, had already been warned, to be on high alert for the possibility that they could be targeted. And now the question has to be raised, can more really be done in order to warn police officers?

In this case what we are hearing from Commissioner Bratton, what we are hearing from Mayor de Blasio, who came to this hospital today to address the media, is that the two officers who were killed this afternoon in their patrol car, shot in the head through a passenger window, may have never even seen the suspected coming. It is quite possible that they never even saw him approach their patrol car by the time he pulled out his weapon and fired several shots through that passenger window.

Both of the officers were rushed to this hospital. This is where families are coming this afternoon and it is where countless members of the NYPD has gathered. We saw them. We could not speak to them but we saw just dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of officers, frankly, inside that hospital today.

An incredibly somber and reflective tone. We did hear from the Commissioner Bill Bratton. He spoke in a very subdued voice. Almost hard to hear him at times. Talking of a loss of life of two of his officers who were in a Critical Response Vehicle. That's what they call it. These officers have been positioned to a neighborhood where there had been complaints of violence. They had put more officers into this neighborhood.

They had no idea, of course, that these officers will be targeted, and the question now is why they were. The explanation we've been given from officials here is that it is clear from their investigation that the suspect was going after these officers because they were police officers in uniform because the suspect holds a grudge against law enforcement.

What we did not hear from Commissioner Bratton or Mayor de Blasio was any of the details about why this suspect holds that grudge or what specifically motivated the suspect to attack here today. We know that they all looking at social media profiles and apparently gleaning a lot of clues into this suspect's past from those profiles. But this was not the time where they were addressing the details of that. This is the time where they were really talking about the officers who were lost today and the risk that all officers are at on this job every day -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Right. Absolutely true. And the debate as to what may have motivated this will continue in the days to come.

Alexandra Field, thank you very much.

We're going to take a break right now and come back with more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: And again, if you're just joining us, we are following the breaking news out of New York, the death -- the assassination, as it's been described by both the mayor and the police commissioner, of two New York City police officers who were shot to death as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn. They were on a special assignment in a neighborhood where it had been reported of higher crime.

They were trying to do something about that when it was said that the 28-year-old suspect came up on the passenger side of their vehicle, took a shooting stance and fired of what would be almost a near point- blank range, hitting both officers in the head. They died and then the suspect then later took his own life.

Laurie Segall is here with me. I also have Tom Fuentes who has been joining us from Washington. And Errol Lewis who is a New Yorker, well-known, close association with law enforcement.

And Errol, let me ask you this, you know, it's going to come out now that people are going to look at this suspect, they are going to remember the background of tensions in communities, the large numbers of people who showed up to protest against police and say where are they now in light of what has happened. And I'm wondering what's the right answer for that.

LEWIS: Well, you know, it's a very interesting question. There are a number of people who have called for demonstration as it's not just their right, but, indeed, their obligation. If you think there's something wrong in society, you know, you should do something about it. We're always telling people that they should.

When it looks like something in that whole general environment, now includes horrible violence against police, well, you know, I guess the first question New Yorkers are going to be asking themselves are, is this even part of that same conversation around aggressive policing?

SAVIDGE: Right.

LEWIS: There are people who are, you know, in the middle of a very, very big political fight and discussion over that very issue. And, you know, some of what I'm seeing online, I'm almost hoping that it's not true, where, you know, there are quotes from news organizations that are quoting police union leaders saying that the mayor's hands are dripping with blood and this sort of a thing.

You know, I mean, none of that is either appropriate or helpful or really even true. You know, I mean, we've got to try to try and figure out a way to sort of bring all of this back to what's basic and what's universally shared, and I think what's universally shared are the things that the mayor and the police commissioner talked about. You know, nobody wants to see a couple of guys who are basically city workers.

You know, working for, you know, a good pay, but not great pay. Really doing a job that not everybody wants to do. Who wants to sit in a freezing car in the middle of Bed-Stuy, you know, on a Saturday night instead of being with their family? And to be murdered that way?

I hope we can all agree that this is something nobody wanted, that nobody can approve, that nobody can sort of ascribe to some political motive and hopefully we'll take a break for maybe a day or two. I kind of doubt it. I -- I know my focus is here on New York, but it's going to really, really be a heart rending seize. And, you know, I think those who see this humanity in all of this, who understand that, this is mostly about a bunch of shattered families at this point, that can't be put back together fully.

(CROSSTALK)

SAVIDGE: All right. Errol, let me --

LEWIS: Or they're going to come closest to the truth.

SAVIDGE: I just have to stop you for a moment, Errol, only because the point you make was actually brought up very quickly by an eyewitness to this whole tragedy earlier today. Anf I want to play her sound bite because she really got it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANIQUA FERVIS, WITNESSED SHOOTING: No, she just told me that, you know, they got shot in the car, whatever, they were sitting here. But my whole thing is, we've got to take back our communities. This can't happen. If you're mad at somebody, be mad at the person that you're mad at. Now we have two families that's missing somebody for the holidays.

Regardless or what, where's your humanity? Like, I know there's a war going on and shout-out to Eric Garner and his family, everybody also wants somebody, but you're not at his house or his lawn. You don't even know if they were good or bad? I don't condone this. And I'm not with it. I'm not with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: She does express it in a great way.

Tom Fuentes, I want to ask you this. If law enforcement across the country does not see, say, demonstrators now show up in support of police or denouncing this incredibly horrible act, is it somehow going to be perceived by law enforcement that those two don't speak out tacitly go along with it?

FUENTES: I don't think so, Martin. I don't think they'll look at it that way, that people go along with that. And, you know, thank you, Shaniqua for -- you know, for such an eloquent statement right at the time this event happened. So I think that that -- you know, when people speak out like that, and if there are protests that mimic that, that'll be great and that will help a long way. But, you know, the police officers are going to do their job and I think Commissioner Bratton had that right that, you know, they will go and continue to do the job they've always done. Officers have died in the line of duty.

We've all -- all of us in the profession have attended police funerals, almost -- at least once a year through my 40 years in law enforcement. So, you know, we're familiar with it. This is what happens. There are people like this in our society. They do come out and do things like this. Police officers know it, but they'll go back to work. The surviving officers continue the protection of society.

SAVIDGE: And Laurie Segall, I want to turn to you because, we've learned actually a great deal more about the suspect, first of all, the name, which is Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28 years of age, said to be -- last address known by in the Atlanta-Georgia area. But postings online. You found more about what he was putting up in Instagram? What is it?

SEGALL: Sure. He had a quite an extensive digital footprint. Right now, you're looking at pictures of him on Facebook. He posted quite often. There's actually a picture of him in a mask and a friend commented, "You look like a cop." You know, so you begin to kind of piece together some of the information about him. But he did post -- one post in Instagram, and you know, Commissioner Bratton did speak specifically about Instagram and how it really led them Tea Party believe that this was the motive.

And I want to read you what that Instagram -- what that Instagram posted, it since been taken but before I was taken down, there were many comments on it. Essentially said I'm putting wings on pigs today. They take one of ours, let's take two of theirs.

You're looking at it right now, #shootthepolice, #restinpeaceEricGraner, #RestinpeaceMikeBrown. This may be my final post." You see a gun. You know, so this was --when you look at it, there were digital clues left behind that something horrific could potentially happen.

SAVIDGE: We have already heard from Tom Fuentes that, you know, it isn't like police sit there and monitor social media looking for this.

SEGALL: Sure.

SAVIDGE: What about the social media sites themselves? Shouldn't they say wait a minute, and then alert authorities?

SEGALL: You know, it's interesting. Someone I know who's an investor in Silicon Valley, they just twitted out Instagram, when are you going to start -- getting software to (INAUDIBLE) your own service for some of these sketchier post. I think there's more of a push for that now. You hear, because a lot of these clues and a lot of these attacks oftentimes start online. There's more of a push to really try to figure out a way to monitor very difficult.

You know, it would be hard to be able to go from A to B, to be able to look at this post and stop this man before this horrific incident happened. But that is something that's a conversation, it is a dialogue that needs to happen.

SAVIDGE: Tom Fuentes, are you still with us?

FUENTES: Yes, I am.

SAVIDGE: So, you heard the mayor of New York sort of essentially say that people on social media, hey, if you hear something say something, then report it. Would that really have made a difference do you think here?

FUENTES: No. I don't think so. Because again, as I mentioned earlier, you know, to put out a general description of a young black man walking through a young -- through a black neighborhood like that, you know, what do the police do with that? If they have a name and an address, and he shows up at that address, or if they have a license plate and a vehicle description and they stop that car, that's a little more specific.

But, again, it goes down to how many -- during the protest, how many times have we heard people criticized that they were stopped by police who said you meet the general description of somebody we're looking for. That's what you would have had here had that alert gone out earlier in the day.

SAVIDGE: So it wouldn't necessarily have ended with what has been a horrible day in New York City.

We also should point out here that the president has been briefed, we are being told, and he is aware of the developments here in New York with the shooting of two police officers, also Attorney General Eric Holder who is, you know, going to put out a statement or has already done so. So the head of law enforcement in this country is well aware.

Laurie, what about postings online as far as people now? Where does this dialogue go in light of what has happened?

SEGALL: You know, I think this is a tough one. Right? You know, it's not like you can go to Facebook and you can go to Instagram and say hey, hand over all of this information. This is tension that we're seeing developing even in the last, you know, couple years with this NSA and developments and all these tech companies trying to be very protective of user data.

But then you have people posting things online and I think, you know, what was really interesting about hearing from the police, hearing from the NYPD, the commissioner, you know, hearing them say that we now have a social responsibility. We now, whereas if you were on the subway and you saw something a little suspicious, the whole idea, is if you see something, say something. Well, now, we have a responsibility if we see something online to say something --

SAVIDGE: Do you think that'll happen?

SEGALL: I don't know.

SAVIDGE: I mean, we're talking primarily a younger kind of demographic. Are they're in that mindset so says yes, I better turn in somebody --

SEGALL: No. I think this is a conversation that needs to start early. Right? You know, there are new rules that need applied. You need to start talking early to people about social responsibility and that responsibilities is probably moving online now. This post, that he posted. This Instagram post, that was so horrific.

I mean, this was up before it was taken down. There were comets and likes so, you know, you're looking at it now. This was all before it got taken down. So if someone has said something who knows what would happened but we do have a responsibility and I think you hear the mayor call on us, if you do see something, to say something now.

SAVIDGE: And Tom, we've only got about two minutes left. And as far as what happens next in this public debate, what would you like to see happen?

FUENTES: Well, I think there needs to be an honest assessment of what happens when a police officer encounter somebody. You know, as Laurie mentioned, you know, if you see something, day something, OK, now somebody says something, what does that mean for the police officer who gets the radio call and says someone has just reported a suspicious person walking down the street or standing on the corner or, you know, pacing in front of a storefront.

Now that police officer has to go, have an encounter with a stranger who is not going to probably appreciate having the introduction by a police officer worth, you know -- again it creates, for every one of those calls, it creates the potential for a difficult encounter between a police officer and a person on the street. SAVIDGE: Right. Well, I think everyone agrees we are at a -- what

could be potentially game changing pinnacle here of what has been a long build-up of tensions over law enforcement. And now we've seen what appears to be a person misguided carry out a fatal attack of two New York City police officers, as a result of perhaps those emotions. That investigation is still underway.

But again, two officers shot dead, assassinated according d to the police commissioner over there in Brooklyn this afternoon by a suspect who appears to have traveled from Baltimore. It began with violence in that city and then came to New York. But many believe that the background of this actually dates back many weeks and to other events in law enforcement including other grand jury decisions.

A special thanks to Tom Fuentes, Laurie Segall, Errol Lewish. Thanks also to our international viewers who have been following us here. We should remind you that for our international audience, you will be moving onto your schedule. As for those here on CNN domestic, you will be watching the CNN film "DINOSAUR 13." We'll point out and the latest events beginning at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning on "NEW DAY."

Thank you.