A lone gunman on Saturday shot and killed two New York City police officers in Brooklyn before taking his own life in an armed standoff.
The shooter, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, shot his ex-girlfriend near Baltimore earlier Saturday before heading north and vowing on social media to kill police officers. Police said Brinsley killed officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos while they sat in a squad car — possibly before they even had time to draw weapons — and then fled into a nearby subway station where he shot himself.
Police Commissioner William Bratton called the attack an assassination, saying the officers were "targeted for their uniform and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe." The shooting comes at a time of heightened tension in the city between police and the general public following the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases.