Police Connect Local Shooting To NYPD Officers' Killings
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (WJZ) -- Investigators say the shooting spree that killed to New York City police officers started in Baltimore County, where the 28-year-old shot his former girlfriend before making his way up to New York to kill two police officers – execution style.
Sunday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the NAACP and city Fraternal Order of Police and Baltimore City police officials held a press conference condemning the shooting of two New York police officers by a Baltimore man.
Police have also released the wanted poster that was sent to New York.
At around 5:45 a.m, Baltimore County police responded to the scene of a shooting at an Owings Mills apartment in the 10000-block of Mill Run Circle.
There they learned that a woman had been shot in the abdomen by a known assailant, but he had fled the scene before police arrived. She was later identified as Shaneka Nicole Thompson.
As police would later learn through social media posts, Ismaaiyl Abdula Brinsley was headed to New York City.
The stunning events unfolded Saturday afternoon – when police say Brinsley ambushed two New York Police Department officers sitting in a patrol car in Brooklyn, NY.
READ: Baltimore Man Suspected In Fatal Shooting Of Two NYPD Officers
"He took a shooting stance on the passenger side and fired the weapon, several times," NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said Saturday evening in a news conference, killing both NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.
"Officer Liu and Officer Ramos never had the chance to draw their weapons, they may actually have never seen their assailant, their murderer," Bratton added.
Moments later, the cold-blooded killer turned the gun on himself at a nearby subway platform.
Police could be seen carrying him out on a stretcher.
"People are frustrated with all the things that happened, but I don't think anyone I know in this community would agree with taking the life of an officer," one New York City councilman said.
Hours before the murders, the killer boasted about killing cops on Instagram, posting, "I'm Putting Wings On Pigs Today." Then. "They Take 1 Of Ours. Let's Take 2 Of Theirs. #ShootThePolice #RIPErivGardner (sic) #RIPMikeBrown This May Be My Final Post. I'm Putting Pigs In A Blanket"
It was the Baltimore County Police Department that tracked the posts and the phone the suspect was using as he traveled to Brooklyn. They learned about the social media posts around 1:30 p.m. when the Maryland victim's mother said the suspect was posting on Instagram.
Police confirmed Brinsley was the suspected shooter in that incident as well, before learning he was making his way from Baltimore to New York.
"A female believed to be Brinsley's former girlfriend was shot and seriously wounded by Brinsley at her residence," Bratton said.
Just minutes before both officers were killed, the NYPD received a fax from Baltimore police warning them Brinsley may be headed to New York.
A city now mourns with heavy hearts.
"We will never forget the two young men who lost their lives today," Bratton added.
Investigators are desperately digging into Brinsley's past.
Sources told our CBS affiliate in New York that detectives are making their way to Baltimore tonight to meet with police and look into whether Brinsley had any connection with the Black Guerilla Family.
BGF is a powerful Maryland gang, notoriously known for corrupting the Baltimore City Detention Center.
Both NYPD officers were on duty assisting in a special initiative to fight crime in the housing projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The investigation continues into the Baltimore County shooting as well.
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