NYC mayor urges halt to ‘political debates and protests’ until officers are laid to rest
NYC mayor urges halt to ‘political debates and protests’ until officers are laid to rest
(about 7 hours later)
An emotional New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio paid tribute on Monday to the families of the two New York City police officers killed in an execution-style slaying, calling for a halt to police-related demonstrations until the officers are laid to rest.
New York City leaders tried to tamp down the strong emotions coursing through their city on Monday after the shooting deaths of two police officers, calling for unity and urging protesters to refrain from demonstrations until the officers are laid to rest.
In a speech at the Police Athletic League in Manhattan, the mayor appeared to fight back tears at times. He declined to address the swirling controversy over whether his efforts to reform the police department contributed to Saturday’s shooting deaths of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in Brooklyn.
In an emotional speech at a sometimes heated news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) declined to address the swirling controversy over whether his vocal efforts to reform the police department contributed to Saturday’s execution-style slaying of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. Instead, de Blasio appealed for calm, visited the officers’ family members and urged residents to “put aside political debates and protests” for now.
Instead, de Blasio called for unity and urged the residents of the tension-ridden city to “put aside political debates and protests” and to focus on supporting the officers’ families. “That should be our only concern, how we support them,’’ said de Blasio, who condemned the shootings as “an attack on all of us, an attack on our democracy, an attack on our values, an attack on every single New Yorker.’’
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton met with the heads of the city’s police unions, including one who had accused de Blasio of having “blood” on his hands for allegedly inciting protests that have roiled the city and the nation over the deaths of unarmed black people at the hands of police. “They are standing down in respect for our fallen members until after the funerals,” said Bratton, who also acknowledged that the mayor has “lost the trust of some officers.”
It was a decidedly low-key public reintroduction for a mayor who has been increasingly under fire in recent days. De Blasio’s remarks came after New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton acknowledged earlier Monday that the mayor has “lost the trust of some officers” in the aftermath of the shootings. But Bratton also defended the mayor’s handling of the killings and said De Blasio supports the police.
It was unclear whether the efforts to promote peace will succeed, even as New Yorkers busily prepared for the Christmas holidays. A coalition of protest groups released a statement blasting both Bratton and the police union, accusing them of trying to link the protests to the officers’ shootings as a way of silencing the demonstrations.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with this man,’’ Bratton said on NBC’s “Today” show, adding that de Blasio ensured that the police department received an additional $400 million this year beyond its normal budget to improve training, upgrade facilities and acquire technology.
Calvin Butts, the influential pastor of New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, also objected to the call from both de Blasio and Bratton for protesters to stay home. “To say we ought to stop protesting really does not touch on the fact that not only are the families of the police officers grieving, the family of Eric Garner is grieving,” he told CNN, referring to the Staten Island man who died after a police officer put him an apparent chokehold while trying to arrest him. “The protests are a separate matter from this heinous crime that’s been committed against these New York City police officers.”
As recriminations flew in the nation’s largest city over the assassination-style slayings of officers Liu and Ramos i, Bratton criticized his own officers for taking the extraordinary step of turning their backs on de Blasio as the mayor entered the hospital where the officers died. Liu and Ramos were shot Saturday in their patrol car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
With the recent events, de Blasio is confronting his most serious crisis since he was inaugurated early this yearon a promise to take the city in a new, more liberal direction — an effort that has attracted national attention. In a city accustomed to larger-than-life leaders, de Blasio now appears isolated and adrift, as even his allies acknowledged on Monday.
“I don’t think it was appropriate, particularly in that setting, but it’s reflective of the anger of some of them,’’ said Bratton, who is treading a fine line along with his boss between the anger of his officers and the budding protest movement over the recent deaths of unarmed black people at the hands of white officers.
Liu and Ramos were shot Saturday as they sat in their patrol car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The alleged shooter, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, led other officers on a chase after the shootings into a subway station, where he was found with a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted, police said.
The shocking murders in New York have made police-community relations, already strained by the nationwide protests, even more fragile. Two days after the officers were gunned down, de Blasio remained at the epicenter of the controversy, with critics blaming the mayor and his aggressive campaign to reform police practices for the shootings.
After examining several thousand images on Brinsley’s cellphone and on his Instagram account, authorities said Monday that it was clear that he hated police and the government, citing, for example, a Nov. 25 Instagram posting. “He goes on quite extensively about America and its inequities,” said Robert Boyce, the NYPD chief of detectives, who described the post as a “tirade.”
Relations between the mayor and officers have become so strained, former New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly said in an interview, that de Blasio “probably needs an intermediary to go between himself and the [police] unions, maybe a religious leader.”
Authorities had previously said that just three hours before Saturday’s shootings, Brinsley had declared his intention on his Instagram account to kill police officers as retribution for the killings of Garner and Michael Brown in Missouri. Anti-police protests erupted in recent weeks after the officers who shot and killed those two men were not charged with crimes.
Other New York elected officials have defended the mayor, saying he supports the department and is only trying to reform certain police practices that have raised concerns in minority communities.
For the first time, police said the Brooklyn-born Brinsley had attended — and filmed on his cellphone — one of the recent anti-police protests in New York City. They did not describe him as a participant.
Elsewhere around the nation, concern grew about the potential for more anti-police violence, with departments and police unions in states including Massachusetts and New Jersey warning officers to be on high alert.
Boyce cited other postings that talked about not only Brown but also Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African American from Florida whose 2012 shooting death at the hands of a former neighborhood watch volunteer also triggered widespread protests.
In the Washington area — where Ismaaiyl Brinsley on Saturday allegedly shot and wounded his former girlfriend near Baltimore on Saturday before traveling to Brooklyn, killing the patrolmen and taking his own life — officers said they felt vulnerable. “We are in uniform and in marked cars,” said Delroy Burton, head of the D.C. Fraternal Order of Police. “There is no way to defend against someone who wants to do us harm. There is no way to see it coming.”
“We know that he was a very troubled young man,” Boyce said at an afternoon news conference. “He was enraged with police officers. That seemed to be the issue — anti-government, anti-police.’’
More information emerged Sunday about the slayings of the officers, as well as the background of the alleged shooter. Police described Brinsley as a highly troubled man with a violent past, saying he had been arrested 19 times — 15 times in Georgia and four in Ohio — and that his mother had feared him. A year ago, they said, Brinsley tried to hang himself.
Police also revealed further details Monday of Brinsley’s violent interaction with his former girlfriend near Baltimore, hours before he killed the officers. They said Sunday that he probably used the same 9mm semiautomatic handgun to wound her that he later used to kill the officers. The former girlfriend, 29-year-old Shaneka Nicole Thompson, was shot about 5:45 a.m. in Owings Mills, Md., about 15 miles outside Baltimore.
While authorities said it was unclear whether Brinsley had been involved in the protests that have roiled the nation in recent weeks, leaders of the burgeoning national movement against police violence worked to distance themselves from the events in New York. Even so, the level of blame laid at their feet by some politicians illustrated the tense atmosphere.
According to police in both Baltimore County and New York City, Thompson told authorities in a brief interview Sunday that Brinsley unexpectedly showed up at her gated apartment community about 5:25 a.m. Saturday.
Just three hours before Saturday’s shootings, authorities said, Brinsley declared his intention on his Instagram account to kill police officers as retribution for the police killings of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City.
Police said Brinsley initially put his gun to his own head and Thompson talked him out of shooting himself. He later shot her during an argument about their relationship.
Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R), known for his tough anti-crime policies in the 1990s, blamed not only the protesters for Saturday’s shootings but also the sympathy they have garnered from de Blasio and President Obama.
Thompson remains in critical condition at an area hospital, police said, though she is expected to recover.
“We’ve had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police,” Giuliani said on “Fox and Friends Weekend.” “I don’t care how you want to describe it: That’s what those protests are all about.”
Funeral services will be held for Ramos on Friday in New York City. Police are working with Liu’s family to bring other family members to the United States from China before setting a funeral date.
De Blasio has condemned the killings as “a despicable act,” and the White House said Obama called Bratton on Sunday morning to express his condolences. “The President reiterated his call for the American people to reject violence and words that harm, and turn to words that heal — prayer, patient dialogue, and sympathy for the friends and family of the fallen,” the White House said in a statement.
Both funerals will be major public tests for New York’s embattled mayor.
Police said Sunday that Brinsley, 28, had a long criminal record and an apparent history of mental illness. Born in Brooklyn, Brinsley attended high school in New Jersey, with his mother telling officers that he was violent growing up and that she feared him, according to Robert Boyce, NYPD chief of detectives.
John Catsimatidis, a billionaire supermarket mogul and longtime Bill Clinton donor, hosted de Blasio at a Police Athletic League luncheon in Manhattan on Monday. He said the mayor is still learning how to navigate New York City’s intricate maze of political players and interest groups.
While Boyce said at a news conference that he would not speculate on a motive, he said Brinsley had burned a flag in one Instagram posting and mentioned Brown and Garner in others.
“It’s not that he doesn’t want to do a good job,” Catsimatidis said in a phone interview. “It’s that he doesn’t know how to handle it.” He urged the mayor to seek advice from Clinton.
Soon before the officers were shot in the head at point-blank range while sitting beside each other in a police car, Brinsley approached several witnesses on the street, asked them to follow him on Instagram and said, “Watch what I’m going to do,” police said.
But Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic strategist who worked for de Blasio rival Bill Thompson, said it is unlikely that Bill and Hillary Clinton — both of whom attended de Blasio’s inaugural in January — will rally publicly to his side.
After the shooting, Brinsley ran up the street and was pursued by other officers into a subway station, where he was found with a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted, police said. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital, police said.
“They are going to wait and see how the environment appears in a week, several days, a month,” Sheinkopf said. “The problem with being the chief executive is you are the chief executive, and you stand very much . . . alone.”
Authorities Sunday also detailed the Washington area’s connection to the attacks. Police said the same 9mm semiautomatic handgun that killed Liu and Ramos was probably used earlier Saturday near Baltimore to shoot and wound Brinsley’s former girlfriend. Police identified her as Shaneka Nicole Thompson, 29.
De Blasio also risks being upstaged in the combative world of New York politics by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), who also visited Liu’s family Monday, notably before the mayor did.
Before he made his way to Brooklyn on Saturday morning, police said, Brinsley shot Thompson at about 5:45 a.m. in Owings Mills, Md., about 15 miles outside Baltimore.
“I’m going to make it my personal business today to bring the temperature down all across the board,” Cuomo said afterward. He appealed “for clam and peace and unity,” adding, “and then let’s have a productive conversation after the holidays.”
In a statement, Baltimore County police said Thompson was wounded in the abdomen, and is in critical but stable condition at an area hospital but is expected to survive. Police said Monday on their official Twitter account that detectives were able to briefly interview the woman on Sunday. Police did not indicate what she told them, but said more details were likely to come later in the day.
De Blasio revealed his emotions at a news conference Monday. After vowing not to be drawn into politics, he blasted the city’s media for what he called blowing the weeks of demonstrations out of proportion.
Brinsley’s address is unknown, and the police statement said that authorities “believe he has no ties to the Baltimore area except Thompson.” Police said that they believe Brinsley and Thompson had a previous romantic relationship that dates back less than a year and that Thompson lived alone at the apartment where she was shot.
“You all are part of this, too,’’ he told reporters. “. . . What are you guys going to do? What are you going to do? Are you going to keep dividing us?”
“There is no indication of prior criminal activity by Brinsley in Maryland,” the statement said.
Sean Sullivan, Robert Costa, Wesley Lowery and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
The shooting early Saturday occurred inside an apartment at Greenwich Place at Town Center, a gated complex. Apartment managers told a reporter to leave Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Thompson’s 71-year-old grandfather, James Delly, who lives in South Carolina, said that he had never heard of the suspect and that his granddaughter, with whom he is close, never mentioned him. “I don’t know anything about him,” he said in a telephone interview Sunday.
He said Thompson’s mother, who lives in South Carolina, is in Baltimore with her daughter at the hospital. Of the family, Delly said, “I think they’re just holding out to see if my granddaughter is going to come through.”
The recriminations directed primarily at de Blasio for the shootings began Saturday, with the head of the New York City police union saying the mayor had “blood on his hands” and former New York governor George Pataki (R) saying on Twitter that the shootings “sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric” of the mayor and U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
Asked about Pataki’s tweet in an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said, “I blame the shooter and nobody else.”
But he added, “I think the mayor of New York has probably undercut his cops, and the attorney general is trying to walk a fine line.”
Others defended de Blasio, arguing that he is trying to bridge divisions, not widen them. De Blasio campaigned for mayor in part on reforming police tactics that he said had unfairly targeted minorities — especially the controversial “stop and frisk” policy, under which police stopped virtually anyone deemed suspicious.
“I think the tone that the mayor is trying to set is a tone that brings people together,” Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We stand with the police department. No one has ever given up on the police department or said we were anti-police-department. What we were crying for was just saying how African Americans feel — how their communities are policed.’’
Leaders of the diverse movement that has been protesting police tactics also took pains to distance themselves and their organizations from the killings.
