The New York Police Department has identified Ismaaiyl Brinsley as the man who shot two NYPD officers execution style, as they sat in their patrol car, before taking his own life in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (also known as “Bed-Stuy”) section of Brooklyn at about 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20.
The horrific episode has created mammoth shockwaves that is reverberating from New York City Hall all the way to the White House. And the fact that officers have found evidence this was a premeditated revenge killing for the recent spate of black men who have died at the hands of the police only intensifies the palpable tension between authorities and the community.
Here are seven things we know so far about the suspect Brinsley:
1. Officers say Baltimore resident Brinsely, 28, traveled to New York, walked up to the officers patrol car and, without explanation nor provocation, opened fire and “assassinating” the officers, the NYPD commissioner termed it, leaving officer Wenjian Liu and Rafeal Ramos dead on the scene and their families without fathers and sons.
Brinsley later went up on a crowded Subway station on Marcy Avenue and shot himself mortally in the head. Police later recovered a silver handgun from the scene, NBC New York states.
The New York Post report that the NYPD believe that Brinsley that detectives believe that the gunman thought of the shooting as a revenge mission for Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The officers had been putting in overtime on an anti-terrorism drill when the murder took place.
3. Brinsley’s last Instagram posts seem to unequivocally link to the NYPD officer’s murder with premeditated malice. His Instagram post refers to a 50 Cent song “Green Lantern” — “never had a hot gun on your waist and blood on your shoe…n—- you ain’t been through what I been through you not like me and I’m not like you.” The post included the hashtags, “#BrooklynGoHard #ConeyIsland,” the New York Post reports.
Reportedly, Brinsley’s last post show a picture of a silver handgun with the words “I’m putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours…Let’s take 2 of theirs.” It included the hashtags “#shootthepolice” and mentioning the names of Eric Garner (who died in the infamous chokehold case in neighboring borough of Staten Island) and Michael Brown (who was killed in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 9)
4. The details are sketchy, but the The Washington Post said Brinsley had shot a family member in the stomach in Baltimore before traveling to New York to carry out the mission of killing NYPD officers. The Daily News refers to Brinsley as a “gang member.”
5. Brinsley allegedly had ties to the ‘”Black Guerilla Family” prison gang, which is also known as “Black Family” or the “Black Vanguard.” The prison gang was supposedly formed in 1966 by Black Panther Party member George Jackson at the San Quentin State Prison in California (Jackson was killed in prison in the late 60s). Over the years, the gang’s operation mushroomed into multi-million dollar business with chapters stretching from Los Angeles to Kansas City and Detroit, the New York Daily News Reports.
6. According to the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore police began leaning hard on the gang because it had essentially taken over Baltimore City Detention Center. The “gang” members allegedly committed a plethora of crimes on the inside, including: extorted people, intimidated witnesses and dealt drugs with the aid of correction officers.
Several corrections officers, along with two inmates and a kitchen worker are currently on trial in a racketeering conspiracy case.
7. The Baltimore field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation disseminated a memorandum on Friday warning that the BGF was targeting “white cops” in Maryland. The memo reportedly said the plan was to target white officers in order to “send a message,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
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