Tension between citizens and the police has been at an all-time high in recent months, considering the fallout from grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers who felt they were justified in killing unarmed black men. But this relationship took another tragic turn today, when two New York police officers were shot and killed while sitting in their squad car in Brooklyn. More from the AP:
An armed man walked up to two New York Police Department officers sitting inside a patrol car and opened fire Saturday afternoon, striking them both before running into a nearby subway station and apparently committing suicide, police said.
One law enforcement officer told the New York Post that this was an 'execution.' As for the executor, he is dead:
The suspected gunman fled to a nearby subway station at Myrtle and Willoughby avenues, where he was fatally shot. Preliminary reports were unclear on whether he was shot by police or his own hand.
On his Instagram page, the murderer bragged about getting 'revenge' for the grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York.
Whether it was rioting and looting in Ferguson, Missouri, then blocking traffic and shutting down bridges in New York City, protesters have made themselves heard. How sad, however, that things have come to this.
Some are blaming the media and the federal government for encouraging an anti-cop mentality:
The cold-blooded murder of two NYPD officers is tragically resultant of the Obama/Holder/De Blasio post-Ferguson/Garner cop-hating culture.
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) December 20, 2014Others are wondering whether this fatal shooting will get as much media coverage as the tragic cases of Michael Brown or Eric Garner:
National journalists who have been fomenting a race war for weeks - are now strangely silent. #IStandWithNYPD
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) December 20, 2014Michael Brown and Eric Garner should not be dead. They should certainly be remembered. But taking more lives is not the answer. Pray for the NYPD.