On December20, 2014, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu two on-duty New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers were shot and killed by Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, United States. Brinsley then fled into the New York City Subway, where he killed himself. Earlier in the day, before he killed Ramos and Liu, Brinsley had shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in Baltimore.

Background The shooting occurred just weeks after a grand jury decided not to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who had killed Eric Garner on July17, 2014. The grand jury's decision resulted in widespread protests in New York City and across the nation against police brutality and the lack of accountability for it. The protests also coincided with widespread protests in response to a grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, on August9. Brinsley's attack on the police was allegedly motivated by outrage over the two deaths.

Events

Shooting of Shaneka Thompson Several hours before the killings, at 5:50 a.m., Brinsley entered the Owings Mills home of 29-year-old Shaneka Nicole Thompson, who had dated Brinsley for a few months before ending the relationship in October. Thompson stated that Brinsley had used a key he kept without her knowledge. He initially threatened to kill himself, pointing a gun at his head while Thompson attempted to calm him down, before Brinsley shot her in the stomach, stole Thompson's phone, and fled the scene. Brinsley called Thompson's mother, claiming he had shot her daughter by accident. He also called his mother and sister, telling them "it’s a wrap", leading them to believe that Brinsley was planning to kill them.

Travel to Brooklyn Brinsley boarded a BoltBus, arriving in Manhattan at 10:50 a.m. His whereabouts for the next four hours are uncertain. At 12:20 p.m., Brinsley used Thompson's phone to make various social media posts on Facebook and Instagram, showing off his pistol and announcing his intention to kill two police officers as retribution for the recent deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, writing: "I'm putting Wings on Pigs Today ... They Take 1of Ours ... Lets Take 2of Theirs. ". Brinsley rode the subway to Brooklyn, and disposed of the phone at Atlantic Yards. A pair of men who encountered Brinsley in Bedford–Stuyvesant said that he asked them if the two were gang members before telling them. "Watch what I’m going to do".

Police contact At 1:30 p.m., Thompson's mother called Baltimore County Police after she saw Brinsley's threat on Instagram, telling officers that he was likely heading for Brooklyn, where his old church congregation was located. Baltimore County Police began compiling information for a bulletin with Brinsley's description at 1:45 p.m. At 2:10 p.m. Baltimore County Police contacted the 70th Precinct of the NYPD about Brinsley's threats on Instagram. The phone call lasted around thirty minutes, during which the officer on call reviewed Brinsley's social media posts and received his photos. A fax of the bulletin was sent at 2:46 p.m., which the precinct received shortly after the shooting.

Killing of Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu The second shooting occurred at Myrtle Avenue and Tompkins Avenue, a busy intersection in Brooklyn near the Tompkins Houses. Brinsley approached the passenger window of an NYPD patrol car occupied by Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32, of Brooklyn's 84th Precinct. Both officers were sitting in the front seats and eating lunch. He then fired a semiautomatic handgun four times through the open window, striking Ramos and Liu in the head and upper body, killing both officers instantly. Two Con Ed workers who witnessed the shooting notified police.

After NYPD officers responding to the scene chased him onto the subway, he killed himself with the handgun in the Myrtle–Willoughby Avenues station (). Brinsley and the two police officers were taken to Woodhull Hospital, and all were pronounced dead on arrival.

Officers killed

Rafael Ramos Rafael Ramos (December9, 1974 – December20, 2014), married and a father of two, resident of Glendale, Queens, had joined the NYPD as a school safety agent, before being promoted to officer in January 2012. He was born and raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to Puerto Rican parents Rafael Ramos Sr. and Julia Romero. He was active in his church, Christ Tabernacle in Glendale, and had once studied at a seminary. He had just completed a training course to become a volunteer chaplain. He planned to eventually join the ministry when he retired from the police force.

The Silver Shield Foundation, founded by the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, announced it would pay for the education of Ramos' 13-year-old son, Jaden. Bowdoin College said it would provide full financial aid to Ramos' elder son, who was then a sophomore at the school, so he could complete his education.

A funeral service for both Officers Ramos and Liu, the largest police funeral in the city's history, was held on December27 in Glendale with over 100,000 people present, including many politicians such as Vice President Joe Biden. The service was almost five hours long and was broadcast around the world, with many people coming from across the country to pay their respects to the slain officers. Afterward, Ramos' body was transported to St. John Cemetery in nearby Middle Village, where he was laid to rest. Hundreds of officers turned their backs to Mayor Bill de Blasio as he delivered his eulogy.

Wenjian Liu Wenjian Liu (; April8, 1982 – December20, 2014) was the only son of Chinese immigrants Weitang Liu and Xiuyan Li. He and his family came to the United States from Taishan, Guangdong, when he was 12years old. He was a seven-year veteran officer of the NYPD who had married Peixia Chen in October 2014. He had no children at the time of his death.

Following a wake on January3 containing elements of Chinese and Buddhist rituals, a funeral service for Liu took place on January4 at the Ralph Aievoli & Son Funeral Home in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. In protest of de Blasio's perceived lack of support for them, some attending police officers turned their backs on the video screen showing de Blasio's eulogy speech; however, de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton were also saluted at the ceremony. Afterward, Liu's body was transported to Cypress Hills Cemetery in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, and was laid to rest. After his burial, a post burial dinner, a Chinese tradition for honoring the deceased and giving his spirit a good send-off to heaven, was held in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

On the night that Liu died, at the request of Chen, his widow, and with the approval of his family members, doctors retrieved and collected his semen for preservation to allow Chen the chance to conceive a child belonging to her and Liu. After being artificially inseminated, Chen successfully became pregnant and, in July 2017, gave birth to a girl named Angelina. In late 2021, Chen attempted to use her late husband's NYPD benefits plan to file for Child Survivor Benefits with the Social Security Administration for their daughter, but was initially denied twice due to an outdated legal definition of the term "biological parents"; moreover, the denial claim stated that Liu did not provide a signed consent with two witnesses to provide permission to use his sperm for conceiving a child. These hurdles were finally removed when Senator Andrew Gounardes, with the help of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, stepped in and had the law amended to recognize the validity of a child's biological parents having conceived him or her through in vitro fertilisation, and in the end, Chen was able to claim Child Survivor Benefits for her daughter.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:

Perpetrator Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley (October31, 1986 – December20, 2014) was born in Brooklyn and raised in Atlanta. He had a long criminal record, including arrests for weapons possession and robbery, which amounted to a total of 19arrests in Georgia and Ohio. He was convicted of felony gun possession in Georgia, where he was living at the time of the shooting. Before 2010, Brinsley was also arrested twice for threatening women. He allegedly had ties to the Black Guerrilla Family, a prison gang that was reportedly planning revenge attacks on police officers according to police informants, and the Nuwaubian Nation, a black-supremacist cult originating in Georgia. However, an unnamed federal law enforcement source has been quoted as saying there were no apparent ties. Daniel McCall, who was appointed to represent Brinsley in Georgia, said Brinsley was "not difficult to represent" and that no psychiatric problems were noticed at that time.

Brinsley was estranged from his family prior to the shooting. His parents divorced when Brinsley was 9 and according to his mother, Brinsley purposely failed classes and acted violent as a child, as this usually resulted in his father traveling over to see the family. He had a history of depression, having attempted suicide by hanging a year previously, and threatened to kill himself to a previous girlfriend in early December over his failure to achieve success in life. His mother also stated that Brinsley attempted suicide at age 14 after he was sexually abused. His family stated that Brinsley did not engage in anti-police activism, but the NYPD stated that he had made "very serious" anti-police posts on social media in the past.

Reactions

Current and former government officials

U.S.President Barack Obama stated, "I unconditionally condemn today's murder of two police officers in New York City. Two brave men won't be going home to their loved ones tonight, and for that, there is no justification. The officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day and they deserve our respect and gratitude every single day. Tonight, I ask 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."

Then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a former police officer, said, "Those who were calling for police reform were not calling for police retribution... blood is not on the hands of the mayor."

Former New York Governor George Pataki blamed current officials. He tweeted, "Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of Eric Holder and Mayor de Blasio." The former Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, responded that this was untrue and categorized this rhetoric as an overreaction.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani accused Obama of creating a hostile environment toward the police, stating: "We've had four months of propaganda starting with the President, that everybody should hate the police. I don't care how you want to describe it, that's what those protests are all about."

NYPD officers and police union As Mayor Bill de Blasio and his entourage walked through the third-floor corridor of Woodhull Hospital, where the two police officers had been pronounced dead hours earlier, dozens of NYPD police silently turned their backs on the mayor in protest for his perceived lack of support for them. Earlier, de Blasio had approached a group of cops in the hospital and told them, "We're all in this together." In response, one officer said, "No we're not."