NY police officers 'assassinated' in Brooklyn

Two New York City police officers were shot dead on Saturday afternoon by a gunman who then killed himself, officials said.

The officers were killed without warning on Saturday as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn, New York.

NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton, his voice cracking with emotion, named the two officers killed as Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.

Bratton said the gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28 - a Baltimore gang member - had made “very anti-police” postings on the Instagram social media site and these were being investigated.

Brinsley fled into a nearby metro station after the shooting and died there from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Bratton and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio both said the officers had been killed “execution style” and described their deaths as an “assassination”. “There is no more emotional time for a police officer,” said Bratton. “A death of this nature, an assassination, it’s unlike any other type of emotion. It’s hard to deal with.”

The two officers were rushed to Woodhull hospital but “despite every effort to save their lies both officers tragically succumbed”, Bratton said.

US media reported a possible link between Brinsley, who was black, and anger over the death of Garner, based on a social media posting.

A post on Saturday on the site Instagram that appeared to be by Brinsley showed a silver pistol and said, "I'm Putting Wings On Pigs Today. They Take 1 Of Ours ... Let's Take 2 of Theirs."

The post included hashtags for Garner and for Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was killed in August by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

The killings sparked an angry outburst from the leader of the city’s main police union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. Pat Lynch, president of the PBA, appeared to blame the deaths on the protesters who have taken to the streets of New York in recent weeks and on De Blasio, the mayor

In a fiery press conference outside the hospital doors, Lynch said there was “blood on their hands [of] those that incited violence on the street under the guise of protest … [blood] on the steps of city hall, in the office of the mayor”.

“When these funerals are over,” said Lynch, “those responsible will be called on to the carpet and held accountable.”

Local news television showed police appearing to turn their backs on the mayor.

The shooting comes at a time when police in New York and nationwide are being heavily criticised following the death of black civilians, most notably, the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was put an in a chokehold for selling cigarettes illegally.

Last month a grand jury voted not to indict the officer, sparking protests in the city against police violence in that and other incidents.

Later the US justice secretary, Eric Holder, condemned what he called an “unspeakable act of barbarism”.