NYPD Officer Brian Moore Among Fallen Officers Honored In Times Square

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- NYPD Officer Brian Moore, who died Monday -- two days after being shot in the head in Queens -- was among the fallen officers honored at a ceremony in Times Square on Wednesday.

As CBS2's Diane Macedo reported, Wednesday's ceremony marked the start of the second annual National Police Week.

It began with a moment of silence for Moore, whose picture is featured on an electronic billboard honoring more than 270 officers who died in the line of duty.

The billboard is located at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue.

"People truly take the job for granted. You know they're out there to make our community safe," said Kathy Guerra, whose husband, Officer Dennis Guerra, was killed trying to save people in an arson fire in Coney Island. "People don't understand the job that these officers do. They get up in the morning, not knowing if they're going to return home."

Gary Johanson spoke about his nephew, Officer Michael Williams, who was killed in the Bronx on his way to an assignment.

"In his time patrolling the streets of the 47th Precinct, he reached out to many young people in the neighborhood and showed a positive and human side to the person wearing the uniform," Johanson said. "Michael always wanted to be a cop. Nothing else would do."

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said the names of the officers who died this past year will be engraved in the National Police Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"The death of Officer Moore, so ironic, so poignant, occurring during this week of memory and celebration of the lives and heroism of our officers," Bratton said.

Bratton said that Moore's death was a reminder that fractured relationships need to be fixed.

"We're in a crisis at this time in this country on issues of race, around effectiveness of policing, around police tactics, probably the most significant I've seen since I joined policing in 1970. We're going to seize that opportunity to effectively make changes that bring us together," he said.

The 25-year-old Moore is also being remembered with a growing memorial outside the 105th Precinct station house in Queens Village, where he worked.

"I worked at this precinct. They get out in their car, they start their work, and no one knows what's going to happen that day," Peter Tannazzo said.

Moore was also honored at Citi Field in Flushing Tuesday night as the Mets played his favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles. The Daily News reports Moore had a ticket to the game and was planning to attend before he was shot and killed in the line of duty.

During the seventh-inning stretch, a fellow officer sang "God Bless America," and the crowd showed its appreciation and support.

Mets players also wore NYPD hats during batting practice.

Earlier Tuesday, people stopped and saluted along the Long Island Expressway as police escorted Moore's body home to Long Island.

"He was a people person. He brings people together. When you find out he was going to be somewhere, you wanted to be there," Moore's childhood friend, Pat Davis, said.

Police said 35-year-old Demetrius Blackwell fired a gun Saturday afternoon as Moore and his partner approached him in an unmarked car in Queens Village. According to investigators, the gun was one of 23 stolen from a store in Georgia in 2011. Nine of those weapons have since turned up in New York City.

On Wednesday, the NYPD confirmed that two of the bullets recovered from Moore's police car matched the weapon recovered near the scene of his shooting.

Charges against Blackwell will be upgraded to first-degree murder, which, if he's convicted, carries a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

Moore's wake will be at Fredrick J. Chapey and Sons Funeral Home in Bethpage. Visitation is planned Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

His funeral is planned for 11 a.m. Friday at St. James Roman Catholic Church in Seaford.

In:
• Demetrius Blackwell