Two police officers sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn were shot at point-blank range and killed on Saturday afternoon by a man who, officials said, had traveled to the city from Baltimore vowing to kill officers. The suspect then committed suicide with the same gun, the authorities said.
The officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were in the car near Myrtle and Tompkins Avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the shadow of a tall housing project when the gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, walked up to the passenger-side window and assumed a firing stance, Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said. Mr. Brinsley shot several rounds into the heads and upper bodies of the officers, who never drew their weapons, the authorities said.
Mr. Brinsley, 28, then fled down the street and onto the platform of a nearby subway station, where he killed himself as officers closed in. The police recovered a silver semiautomatic handgun, Mr. Bratton said.
Mr. Brinsley, who had a long rap sheet of crimes that included robbery and carrying a concealed gun, is believed to have shot his former girlfriend near Baltimore before traveling to Brooklyn, the authorities said. He made statements on social media suggesting that he planned to kill police officers and was angered about the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases.
A policeman stands next to an image of slain New York Police Department officer Wenjian Liu during his funeral in the Brooklyn borough of New York January 4, 2015. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio appealed for reconciliation on Sunday in his eulogy for the second of two police officers murdered last month, two deaths that led to accusations the mayor had contributed to an anti-police climate. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri (UNITED STATES – Tags: CRIME LAW OBITUARY) 
A painting with the likeness of New York City police officer Wenjian Liu is displayed prior to funeral services for him at Aievoli Funeral Home, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Liu and his partner, officer Rafael Ramos, were killed Dec. 20 as they sat in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street. The shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, later killed himself. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) 
People hold a painting of plice officer Ramos outside the church after the funeral for NYPD officer Rafael Ramos December 27, 2014 in New York. Thousands of people, including US Vice President Joe Biden, attended the funeral Saturday for Ramos, one of two New York officers shot dead in apparent revenge for recent police killings of unarmed black men. Ramos was shot alongside his partner Wenjian Liu on December 20 on the heels of nationwide protests accusing police of racism and using excessive force against black people. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) 
