to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, i'm martin savidge, cnn in new york. we welcome our international viewers. it's the top of the hour, and we are waiting for new york city police commissioner william bratton and mayor bill de blasio to speak at a news conference in brooklyn. that is where two uniformed police officers died this afternoon after a man walked up to their patrol car and shot them. it happened in the bedford-sty neighborhood of brooklyn. witnesses say he approached from behind and shot both police officers while they sat inside.

police have identified the suspect who shot himself, we are told, in a subway station with police officers chasing after him. we have got our cameras live in new york city at the hospital where the new york mayor and the police commissioner are expected to speak shortly. of course, we will carry that news conference live when it happens. joining us, cnn law enforcement analyst, tom fuentes, former deputy fbi director, and cnn money correspondent, laurie segall. let me start with you, tom. we have heard, of course, the mayor plans to be there, but we already know, due to previous events in new york, there's friction going on between the police department and the mayor. how difficult does it make what is a already horrible situation? >> oh, it's going to be very ugly, as i was mentioning earlier, martin. you have the police benevolent association in new york city saying recently, before this event, that if a police officer gets killed in new york city,

the mayor would not be welcome to attend the funeral. now, that is about as ugly as it can get in terms of relationship. many police officers on the nypd feel that the mayor threw them under the bus with his very public and open criticisms of the way the police do business. so they're very unhappy with the mayor already, and now you have this event today, where it's starting to look more and more that these officers were killed on purpose, because of all of the recent events. >> and then you have a nation that has begun in some minds to question law enforcement, particularly after grand jury decisions, not to indict officers over the deaths of african-american men who were being taken into custody. laurie segall, i want to bring you in, because as our tech expert, social media appears to be playing a role here. >> sure. one police source on the ground has said they are definitely looking into this guy's facebook, to his instagram and

oftentimes especially when you're asking why, a lot of times now you go online, and these people leave behind a digital footprint. and what we're hearing is that there could potentially be some evidence scattered across the web on these pages that give us a little bit of insight into what his -- this guy's motive was behind this. >> and that evidence would seem to suggest, and i know we won't go into great detail, that the previous events, ferguson and the grand jury decisions, both in new york and there, weigh in to that mind-set. >> absolutely. and from covering the protests here in new york city recently, you can feel the tension. the tension is palpable. there are conversations that are getting started, and you know, this could potentially have something to do with it. we don't want to speculate too much. but i will say, these police officers, law enforcement, they are going online right now as all of us are to try to find more information about this, to look for that motive and see if that was, in fact, at play. >> how quickly can they lock that down, because what if

someone else wants to pretend they're involved or change it? >> very quickly, i'll tell you something as someone who any time something like this happens, as a tech reporter, you go online and try to look at this. these sites get taken down very quickly. that being said, nothing ever fully disappears on the web. there is always cash version so people can always get an idea of these traces of these digital clues left behind. >> if it's true that this suspect, and it's been said, tom, that he traveled from baltimore. but laurie, if that's true and if there were postings on the internet, the natural thing to say is why didn't somebody see this, and somebody get a heads up? >> you know, it depends, right? it depends on what exactly he was saying. but as we look again, and as we look back, you can see, where he posted his last picture, what his last -- what the last thing he said was. how does that play into it. but, you know, what responsibility do we have? and i guarantee you, and as someone who is doing my own digging right here, in between these segments, i will say, you look to see what the friends are commenting on when he posts -- if this is, in fact, the guy --

if he's posting certain things. so that's how you begin to wrap your head around this big picture. >> tom fuentes, you were saying in your conversations with law enforcement that this was something feared. and i mean, this kind of an attack has been feared, not just in new york but elsewhere. >> oh, absolutely. all across the country. you know, you have protests in every major city, more than 100 cities over the past couple of weeks. which indicates that in those communities, there's a difficult relationship between members of the community and the police. and so the police have been concerned that not the peaceful protesters, but people on the periphery might get encouraged or feel that, hey, it's open season, let's kill the police. and as i said, the terminology in that instagram, if it turns out to be true, saying "put pigs in a blanket," that's what i heard years ago when i was a uniformed police officer, and i thought that, you know, decades later we had moved beyond that. >> we know that this is, of course, an incident that took place in new york city.

the suspect it's believed traveled from baltimore. is there any federal involvement? is there any way that federal law enforcement would become involved? >> well, they -- the fbi certainly, atf, with weapons tracking, and, you know -- they would get involved at the request of nypd or to cover leads internationally. i mean -- well, interstate and internationally. but really, i think at this point, it will be the nypd that will have the lead, and especially because it's their officers that have been killed. >> we talked about the issues specifically to new york city and how things have really fallen apart, i guess, between the mayor and the police department. just how serious is this rift? >> i think it's very serious, from what i'm hearing. you know, when the -- the head of the police benevolent association says recently in the new york media that the mayor would not be welcome to attend an nypd funeral, should one be necessary, well now two are necessary. so it's going to be very

interesting to see what happens in the hours and days ahead between the police and the mayor. >> and the president of the united states has talked about the issue of trust between law enforcement and the communities in which they serve. what is this likely to do to that level of trust? >> i think a lot is going to depend on the response, especially in the community. even though you had the one young lady that was on right away expressing concern this shouldn't happen, this shouldn't happen in their neighborhood. the police didn't deserve to be killed. as long as there is that kind of effort to find peace, to find a way to work this out among the -- you know, people that disagree over these issues, that could go a long way here. >> and laurie, we talked about social media, how it has been so much involved in what came out of ferguson, in what came out of new york. this has been talked, it has been protested across the country. and still being talked about now. >> yeah, absolutely. and when i was covering the protests here in new york after

eric garner, when this decision came out, you know, a lot of the protesters were using social media to meet up. these messages were being spread on facebook. they were spread on twitter. there are hash tags. so, you know, obviously there's a whole movement happening. there's a whole conversation happening. and oftentimes, it can go many, many ways. there is a conversation for everyone. if you have very, very strong feelings there as a facebook group for that, there are twitter hash tags for that. so this will be something we all look at. >> surely there isn't a conversation where someone comes out and says i support the actions of shooting two police officers. >> absolutely not. but, you know, i think -- and what do i know, but i do think that sometimes when these types of things happen, people look online, they go down this rabbit hole. they find other supporters. they get so angry. and there are other people. it's not just your friends, and you know, in this physical world to tell you. but it's this whole online community who shares a certain opinion. and, you know, i think sometimes you -- people can lose that ability to really make sense of things, to really come out and

say, well, this is really how i feel and this is how i feel, and let's have a conversation. oftentimes these online forums can go into a dark place too. >> we should let you know we are stabbing by, waiting for a news conference that's going to be held by the new york city police department. in fact, the new york city police commissioner is expected to be there, as well as the mayor, which could produce some very interesting interaction between those two, because of the friction that has been about for the past couple weeks between the police department and the mayor's office. tom, social media and the monitoring of it by law enforcement. this is a new age. i presume, what, local police departments certainly on the federal level, they monitor a lot of conversation all of the time. >> well, not as much as you think, martin, because they just can't. they don't have the resources to track tens of thousands of people that are on there, especially, you know, the issue like this one that's become a national debate. so the police really, what they rely on are people in the community or people that are aware of these postings, to call

the police and say, i think this person's crossing the line. i think this person may be intending violence or intending harm. on one side or the other. and, you know, that's necessary in every type of investigation from terrorism to any kind of crime that might occur. so i think that, you know, the notion that the police can track every one of these is just not out there. and, again, if this person -- the shooter in this case posted on instagram, you know, what time it was posted, who saw it, who read it, and if he returned to his home area back in brooklyn, you know, where he's familiar with that, you know, a lot of his friends or anybody else might not have been aware he was even back in town. and when you post, i'm going to put two pigs in a blanket, where? you know, if that was true, allegedly, he just killed a woman in baltimore. so, you know, how would anybody know, in fact, or was it posted?

i didn't see that he was going to go from baltimore to new york and kill nypd officers. >> and we are still working on sort of drawing that linkage right now. laurie segal helping us to do that. alexandra field is at the hospital where this press conference is expected to get under way. what's the delay? can you tell, alexandra? >> absolutely we can't tell, martin. there is a tremendous media presence here, obviously. we wanted to carefully facilitate the setup so they have been bringing us in groups to the auditorium. we could be waiting for a few others. we know that time is being taken right now for the nypd presumably and others gathered here to meet with family. we understand families of both the officers who were shot and killed have arrived at the hospital. so it makes some sense they are meeting perhaps with the nypd top brass, presumably. can't confirm this. we know that top brass is here. we another there are also so many nypd officers here to show

support, to show solidarity, and the sight of it is just incredibly striking, martin. and really quite heartbreaking. it's unlike anything i've ever experienced. attending a press conference for the nypd or anyone else. we got off the elevators here at wood hall medical center, and you couldn't even count the number of officers who were in the hallway that, frankly, you could hear a pin drop. just the most somber and silent tone through the hallways here. people trying to be respectful, people obviously grieving and frankly quite shocked, because we know that 35,000 officers in the nypd put their lives on the line every day. we know they do dangerous work. and they expose themselves to dangerous situations. but this is the kind of situation that must truly strike fear in the heart of every officer, in every officer's family member. not just in the city, but frankly across the country.

because the details we know here are so chilling. two officers sitting in a patrol car, having apparently had no confrontation whatsoever with this suspect when they were ambu ambushed. this is something so many people are going to take home tonight. it's truly chilling. we are already seeing expressions and outpouring of support, not just from the community here in new york, not just from fellow nypd officers but other police departments across the country. the los angeles police department apparently tweeting that their officers will wear those black arm bands, mourning bands, in an expression of solidarity for their comrades here in new york. and, again, martin, we are just standing by, we are waiting to hear from the commissioner of the nypd. we are waiting to hear from new york pd mayor bill de blasio. we were told this would start at 7:00, but for whatever reason, take the time they need, whether to comfort the family of the victims or gather information.

>> right. >> they have not publicly confirmed the name of the suspect. >> it is absolutely understandable that authorities would meet first with the families, and we will wait as long as it takes, and our hearts go out to the families of the fallen officers and to the police department. but i was just curious, has the mayor or the commissioner been seen on-site? do we know that? >> we have not personally seen the commissioner and the mayor. we are told that the mayor is on site. i can't confirm whether or not the commissioner is. the mayor has been here for some time now. >> okay. and the reason it's held at the hospital as opposed to, say, city hall, head of the police department, something like that? >> no explicit reason has been given, martin. it was a question, obviously, that we asked. we wondered, would they do this at police headquarters. these two officers were brought here in critical condition. they were pronounced dead here. this is naturally where their

families would want to come to be right now. so i think that we can presume that authorities felt that it was appropriate to come here to be with the families and then to bring the press in as they could. >> all right. alexandra, please stand by. we'll wait for the news conference to begin. and again, if you are just joining us, two new york city police officers, according to authorities, were ambushed as they sat in their police car in brooklyn this afternoon. both men shot in the head and both men were killed. we'll take a break and be back with more. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on select new volkswagen models.

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i'm martin savidge in new york. we are waiting for new york city police commissioner william bratton and mayor bill de blasio to speak at a news conference at a hospital in brooklyn. two uniformed police officers died this afternoon after a man walked up to their patrol car and shot them. it happened in the bedford-sty neighborhood of brooklyn. witnesses say that a gunman approach a marked patrol car from behind and shot both officers while they sat inside. police have identified the suspect who shot himself, we are told, in a subway station while police officers were chasing

after him. we've got our cameras live in new york city at the hospital where the new york mayor and police commissioner are about to speak. and of course, we will carry that news conference live the moment that it happens. joining us, cnn analyst, tom fuentes, former deputy, fbi director and cnn money tech correspondent, laurie segall and former los angeles police officer david kinger. david, let me bring you in first, and ask, there has to be already so much being said in the law enforcement community about this, even though, of course, from where you are, it's across the country. what's being said, what do you know? >> well, what i know is that many of my colleagues here were still in law enforcement and retired officers. i left the force 30 years ago after i left l.a., went to a small town in washington, but i have a lot of friends in law enforcement. and we have been talking amongst ourselves for something to bubble up and we might revisit the 1960s, 1970s in terms of attacks on police officers. and my heart goes out to these -- the families of these

two officers and everybody in nypd. but it's very disconcerting that the fear that many of us have had, that we have not voiced, because we don't want to get some crazy person to go off, be influenced by the thought we might be able to plant in their head. but now it appears we have had the first one and i my hope is this is not the leading edge but it's possible it could be. we have to be very careful where this could lead. >> and your fear is that through whatever way, the protests or people being angry or apparently dissatisfied with legal decisions made recently in ferguson and new york they are taking what retribution on law enforcement or people could be motivated to do so. >> absolutely. and i think it's very important to differentiate between the vast majority of the people who have peaceably protested and the fringe. and the fringe will look for an excuse to incite violence. and there have been all sorts of

threats that have been put out over social media. i've heard some chants at some of the protests by the bad people, you know, we want cops to die, so on and so forth. and the good people need to stand up and say this is absolutely unacceptable. this is far, far, far beyond the pail. and this cannot happen. because what will happen as tom has indicated, because i've been watching your coverage, this could get very ugly very quickly. and not just in terms of what happened in new york, per se. but if cops are on greater degree of edge, they have to be, to stay alive. people have to understand, these officers, from what i understand, are minding their own business, sitting in a squad car, someone walks up and executes them. and i have interviewed officers who have been involved in similar situations where it's merely by the grace of god they survive. and officers, if they are switched on, may be able to notice something untoward coming toward them.

someone with ill intent. but officers are aware, they cannot protect themselves all of the time, 24/7. and we don't want to have a situation emerge where the lines are drawn even more -- even more than they are. so my hope would be that this is just one god awful thing that happened, and that no one else decides to take up weaponry against police in this manner. unfortunately, historically, we have had this happen. tom mentioned the two officers who were ambushed in las vegas. earlier this year. we had four officers a few years ago in a suburb of tacoma sitting, minding their own business, a man walked in and executed them. and so this happens periodically. but if this is the leading edge of a movement, we are going to be in for a very long haul, like we were in the '60s and '70s when we had the peak of american law enforcement officers being murdered. >> david, hold on for a moment, please. i want to remind our viewers, we

are standing by for a press conference that is to be held by the new york police commissioner. we also understand the mayor of new york will be there, as well. where we will get the first official update as to how this happened and why this happened, and what is known so far. let me bring in laurie segall again. some of this is playing out in social media. apparently, there was a posting. i'll let you take it from there, at least from what we know so far. >> sure. police are currently looking at postings, and we have spoken -- we have alexandra on the ground, and she has spoken to police who said they are currently looking at facebook, instagram. i had a source confirm the same thing. they're looking for a motive. they believe it could have potentially been motivated by some of that anger and some of that frustration. we have been talking about towards the nypd and a lot of the protesters. but we don't know at this point. but they are currently looking at an instagram account, at a posting they believe looks like it could have been evidence as to what brought this guy to actually go and commit such a horrific act.

>> can i ask you why instagram? we so often hear facebook, twitter. instagram is one that is maybe third on that list. >> sure. any time one of these -- one of these horrific tragedies happens, oftentimes i look online. and more and more, you are seeing that a lot of people posting about potentially doing something or being more open about their feelings, it's happening on instagram. >> why? >> it's an interesting question. when the boston bomber, dzhokhar tsarnaev, we found out he had actually deleteded his instagram account. and we were able to dig up some traces of it, and there were some more radicalized posts that a lot of his friends in school didn't know about, because he never posted like that on facebook. you know, i think instagram has become a bit of a social network for people who are able to say a little bit more. facebook is kind of out there as more public. and instagram is a little bit less public. a little bit more -- people are a little bit more open about talking about it. so that is something that people are potentially looking at and something we know the nypd is

looking at right now. >> and instagram, just to differentiate between facebook and twitter, it's photos, isn't it? >> sure. >> it's pictures? >> it's photos, but it's very simple. take a photo and write a quick caption. people comment on it. but also there is a photo map. you can see -- which i'm sure nypd will be doing. >> can you follow back on it, much like you can the others? >> sure. have your location turned on. this is something as we look at the digital evidence, you can see if someone posted if they had geolocation turned on on their phone, you can see on instagrandma, there is an actual photo map so you can see if someone posted from one location and how many hours later did they post from another location. and that's something all taken into account. especially when something as horrific as this happens. and there's very likely digital evidence, and there were postings as we're looking at that happened just ten hours before this happened. so that is absolutely something they take into account. >> i want to bring in harry houck, retired detective from the new york police department. and as always, there are the connections, the conversations

had between law enforcement, and i'm wondering, harry, since last we spoke, what have you heard from your fellow officers? >> well, you know, i have heard a lot of condolences back and forth from officers with what happened. but i haven't heard any new information regarding any investigation of the subject who, you know, allegedly had come from baltimore. >> can i ask you about how deep is the rift and the feelings against the mayor of new york from the police department, and a bit about why it is so strongly felt? >> it's pretty evident the way the mayor is speaking when this first happened, that he wasn't in full support of this police officer. and he even mentioned something about an alleged -- the alleged attack on the brooklyn bridge where the lieutenant was attacked by -- the officers were attacked by the persons they're looking for now. so it doesn't really appear that

he is behind the police officers. and it seems he is just behind the demonstrators, and they're going on -- and, you know, the fact there's only 25,000 demonstrators on the street, or we have a population of 8 million people in new york city. that's less than a 30% of people. >> and so then your feeling is that by not solidly being behind police he could somehow be, what, indirectly encouraging this? >> well, i don't think, you know, he's indirectly encouraging it. but you always -- if you're the mayor of a large city like new york and important city like this where everything that happens here is national news, you know, you should at least give your police officers the benefit of the doubt. we had a grand jury that worked on the garner case here, all right, and there is no evidence that there was any misconduct at all in the garner case. and to come -- for people to come out and say there was misconduct, and then the mayor -- sort of capped that

statement in the way that he spoke, and by not talking to police officers, that creates a big problem between him and the police officers. >> i understand. thank you for clarifying that for us. tom fuentes, you're also with us again. tom, you've been talking to your sources. i'm wondering, what are you hearing and what's new? >> well, i'm not sure how much i can talk about right now, martin. what i'm hearing is, there's in progress a protest already going on with nypd officers. and what they're willing to do in terms of enforcement actions right now in the short run. in other words, you know, almost like having the blue flu while they're on duty. >> yeah. this seems -- i mean, to have this background of con fliktd betwe between the mayor and the police department at any time is bad, but now especially given the tensions that seem to be felt within the community and now this horrific crime that's been carried out. it only makes it worse. >> right. what i'm being told right now is that the delay in getting this press conference started is

because there is tremendous concern at the executive level of nypd of what's going on with their own officers right at the moment. that there is a lot going on behind the scenes right now. and it's not a good thing. >> how comfortable is the police commissioner when he is standing next to mayor de blasio? >> i guess we'll see. get your body language professionals out, ready to look at that language. i think -- you know, i think they have to get along and all that. but the police commissioner is in the middle, you know, because he's got a department, and rank and file of officers that think that the mayor has, you know, thrown them under the bus, where's the commissioner stand on that? does he back his police officers? is he loyal to his mayor? he's right in the middle of this. so it will be very interesting to see how the commissioner handles it. >> often, the rest of the nation follows, of course, events that happen in new york city. if it happens here, then is -- suggested it could happen almost anywhere. so let me bring back the officer, and i'm sorry, i haven't got the name.

david clinger, former lapd. what are the concerns out there in los angeles, and prior to this, you must have already -- or those in the department have been thinking this way. >> absolutely. you know, i left l.a. many years ago, talked this evening with a friend of mine out there, and he shares the same concern. that these things can go national. and if you look back in the 1960s and '70s, there were violent shootouts between radicals, and american law enforcement officers literally all over the country. and if, in fact, this is the leading edge of something that is going to look similar to that, we are in for a real rough patch. and dlthat's just the reality w have to face. as soon as i heard about this, two names jumped into my mind. waverly jones and joseph piagantine, working in harlem and three guys walked up and executed them. that was one of literally dozens of attempted executions,

sometimes successful during the '60s and '70s against law enforcement. and my hope is that this is not the leading edge, but we are realists, those of us with the law enforcement background. and i'm sure tom would agree. we realistically look at things and say it could be. and most of us that i know in the law enforcement community, this has been something we have been talking about amongst ourselves or keeping to ourselves just in terms of thinking about it. but as i indicated, i've been out of the game for about 30 years. i study the topic now. i've interviewed all sorts of officers all over the country who have been involved in shootings. and officers have to be prepared for this type of heinous act. and it's just tragic that it struck new york today. >> harry, let me bring you back into the conversation and ask quickly, the morale, the sense of morale. new york pd. where would you say it stands in light of recent weeks? >> i'll tell you, it's probably the lowest i've ever seen it in my 30 years.

it's -- definitely a big problem here. when you've got a police department out there where nobody is back, when you have demonstrations predicated on a lie against police officers, and the message going out to kill police officers, and -- a lot of people in these demonstrations were yelling about killing cops. one for one for garner, all right? and when they -- when they put this message out there, although they themselves won't try and do something, they're hoping that some nut case out there like in this instance will go and take some kind of action. >> so what do we do, harry, to stop that? in other words, what do you think it will take? >> that's the big question. what do we do? i mean, i think basically we have to -- listen, there is no doubt that police have got to reach out to communities and to the people. but right now, we have to mourn the death, the murder of these two officers who were executed, all right? and we have to think about that, and then somehow we've got to

find a way to work together. because i do believe that most new yorkers are behind the police. all right? there is a small amount of people out there that are demonstrating against police officers that are creating all these problems, and somehow we've got to find a way to silence them. >> and what about the relationship between the mayor and the police department? that too has to be resolved. >> right. i think i said, the lieutenant -- the association did reach out to the mayor and he said he's willing to talk with them. and the mayor has got to learn that the police department -- listen, the police department protects the mayor. protects his family. i don't think he's going to want the police department to be against him. you know? so i think that the mayor has got to sit down, and first apologize to the police department. apologize to the police officers in this city for the way he's been handling this problem.

>> harry houck, retired former new york police department detective, and, of course, before even we get to that moment there is the difficulty of dealing with the tragic loss of two new york city police officers who were ambushed today. and this is sort of recapping now. it occurred this afternoon in brooklyn. reports are two officers were inside their police vehicle. they were there protecting the neighborhood when it appears a suspect ambush them. that was the description given. shot into their vehicle. both men were hit, both men were hit in the head, and subsequently they died either on their way to the hospital or at the hospital. we are standing by now for a news conference. several hours have passed since that time. the suspect is believed to have come from baltimore. there are suggestions he may have posted about his actions on the internet, which, of course, we're still working to track down. but authorities say the suspect took his own life in a subway

station while being chased by authorities. all of this is the early information we are getting. again, a news conference expected at any moment. the mayor of new york and the police commissioner. we will bring that to you as soon as it begins. in the meantime, a neighborhood very much in shock during the holiday period, and a neighborhood that was very much on edge as a result of protests in new york and across the country over dissatisfaction over the lack of an indictment in two cases, one in missouri and one in new york that have triggered protests across the nation. did that play in, is the big question of the moment. we'll take a break. be back with more.

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york. we welcome our international viewers. let me bring you up to date to where things stand. we are waiting for new york city police commissioner william bratton and mayor bill de blasio to speak at a news conference at a hospital in brooklyn. that's the image you're looking at there on the screen. and that is where two uniformed police officers died this afternoon. after a man allegedly walked up to their patrol car and shot them. it happened in the bedford-sty neighborhood of brooklyn. witnesses say a gunman approached the marked patrol car from behind and shot both police officers while they sat inside. police have identified the suspect, who allegedly shot himself in a subway station with police officers in chase. we have our cameras live in new york city at the hospital where the new york mayor and the police commissioner are expected to speak at any moment. as soon as they do, we will jump directly to that. in the meantime, we will carry on our conversations that we have been having with law enforcement analyst tom fuentes,

former deputy director, and laurie segall and on the phone former new york police detective harry houck. let's talk, laurie, about these protests. because really, for the international audience, for our entire audience, we have to understand, there was a background here of tension, not just in the city, but in this nation when it comes to law enforcement and in particular two recent grand jury rulings. one of them out of ferguson, missouri, and the other out of new york, pertaining to the deaths of african-americans while in the hands of police. you covered the protests here in new york. what is the feeling? how strained is the relationship? >> it is strained. the protests here in new york, when this decision was made with the eric garner case, they were very -- they were mainly peaceful. >> let me interrupt you right there. i'm sorry. i think we're getting indications that we may be very close. we're watching the pressers under way. let's listen now.

>> the mayor and i are v just come from visiting with the families of our two murdered police officers. it's a time of great emotion. great passion. and so please bear with us as we try to bring some sense to the madness that occurred this afternoon in the streets of brooklyn. sometimes difficult to find the words to speak to events like those that occurred today. to try to make sense of them.

but we'll try. today two of new york's finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation. they were quite simply assassinated. targeted for their uniform and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe. at approximately 2:47 p.m., police officer lou and police officer raphael ramos were assigned to a critical response vehicle. crvs, as we refer to them in the confines of the 79 precinct. while crv is traditionally used for counterterrorism operations, this past may, we also assigned some vehicles to housing developments throughout the city. developments that had seen an increase in violence in the early part of the year. like the tompkins houses where

the officers were stationed. while sitting in a marked nypd police car in full uniform, both were ambushed and murdered in front of 98 tompkins avenue in the bedford-sty area of brooklyn, new york city. both officers were assigned to the 84 precinct, but were posted at this location as part of a department crime reduction strategy to address complaints of violence in the area of the housing developments in that area. officer ramos was this the driver's seat, and officer lou was in the front passenger seat beside him. according to witness statements, the suspect who has been identified as 28-year-old ismaaiyl brinsley, walked up to the police car. he took a shooting stance on the passenger side and fired the weapon -- his weapon several

times through the front passenger window, striking both officers in the head. officer lou and officer ramos never had the opportunity to draw their weapons. they may never have actually even seen their assailant. their murderer. other officers also assigned to the crv post immediately pursued brinsly southbound on tompkins avenue. britonsly then turned westbound on mer tell avenue and fled to the g train subway station. he proceeded down the stairs on to the westbound subway platform. while on the platform, britonsly shot himself in the head. took his own life. a silver semi automatic firearm was recovered on the subway platform near the suspect's body. officers lou and ramos were transported here to woodhull

hospital. despite every effort to save their lives, both officers tragically succumbed to their injuries. on behalf of the new york city police department, i extend my deepest condolences to lou and the ramos families. and the families with the nypd. both officers paid the ultimate sacrifice today while protecting the communities they serve. the suspect was transported to brooklyn hospital, where he was pronounced dead. we are currently continuing to investigate this incident. i want to thank at this time dr. ju and his trauma staff for their valiant efforts but unsuccessful efforts to resuscitate our officers. some background information relative to the events leading up to the murder of our two officers today. at approximately 5:45 this morning in baltimore county, maryland, a female believed to be britonsly's former

girlfriend, was shot and seriously wounded by bribsly at her residence. detectives later received information from the victim's mother that britonsly was posting on the victim's instagram account. further information was developed indicating that brinsley may have had associations with the east flat bush area of brooklyn. at approximately 2:45 this afternoon, baltimore authorities sent a fax, a warning flier, a wanted flyer to the nypd and other agencies. tragically, this was essentially at the same time as our officers were being ambushed and murdered by brinsley. tragically too, this is not the first time this department has seen such violence. seven times since 1972, we have seen partners murdered together, often in incidents such as this, mindless assassinations without

warning. our officers know this, from the memorial walls on our precincts and headquarters. and from the stories they hand down. nevertheless, they do what we expect of them. they grieve, they mourn, but then they go out on to the streets of the city and work to keep it safe. every day and every night. we have never and never will forget that mission. we will never forget the two young men who lost their lives today. mr. mayor? >> thank you, commissioner. our city is in mourning. our hearts are heavy. we lost two good men who devoted their lives to protecting all of us. officer ramos, officer lou, died in the line of duty.

protecting the city they loved. our hearts go out to their families, to their cam rads in arms at the 84 precinct, to the larger family of the nypd. we honor the emts, the doctors, the nurses, everyone at woodhull who tried valiantly to save their lives and couldn't. i want to thank everyone who came here today to support these families that are in such pain right now, all the leadership of the nypd, the elected officials are here. i thank them for coming here in solidarity with these grieving families and our police department. lower still learning the details, it's clear this was an assassination. these officers were shot

execution style, particularly despicable act, which those at the very heart of our society and our democracy, when a police officer is >> when a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our society. it is an attack on all of us. we depend on our police to protect us against the forces of criminality and evil. they are a foundation of our society. and when they are attacked, it is an attack on the very concept of decency. therefore, every new yorker should feel they, too, were attacked; our entire city was attacked by this heinous individual.

even though the assailant took his own life, we'll be vigilant for any information about anyone else who might be involved. and this is a point to make clear to all my fellow new yorkers. that any time anyone has information that there might be an attack on our police, there might be an act of violence directed at any police officer, it is imperative that that be reported immediately. you heard the commissioner outline the tragic timeline. but anybody who sees a posting on the internet or any other indication of an intention to attack the police must report it immediately. call 9-1-1, report it to a police officer. but whatever the situation, that information must get into the hands of the police immediately so we can protect the lives of our police officers and, in

fact, of all of us since they protect us. stthere is a sadness that i very, very hard to describe. the commissioner has felt it many times. i have felt it many times. we met the family members. we met the parents of officer lu, the woman he recently married. we met the right of office ramos. we met his 13-year-old son who couldn't comprehend what had happened to his father. and with other public servants and with leaders of this police department, we pray over the bodies of these two police officers. i ask that all new yorkers pray

for them, pray for their families. it's a moment of terrible loss and it's a moment when we must all come together to support these families. support heal iing. and to be thankful that there are heroes among us like officer ramos and officer lu. . i'd like to say a few words in spanish, as well. [ speaking in foreign language ]

>> i'll take a few questions. [ inaudible ] >> there is no more emotional time in the life of a police officer in policing than when a death occurs. a death of this nature, an assassination, it's unlike any other type of emotion that -- it's hard to deal with. it's hard to get your arms around. the grief that the mayor and i just experienced with what the

family is going through. and i met with the officers in the 8-4 precinct, the department of the officers, the two deceased police officers. it's not easy. it's not easy at all. i've dealt with this too many times over 44 years. you always hope that you're never going to experience it again. and the idea of a double -- double tragedy. here we are coming into christmas week where we celebrate a birth. a birth that has changed history for 2,000 years. and, instead, in this week, in this city, in this department, we're going to be mourning. we're going to be dealing with the death of two young men that fulfilled their dreams to be police officers. one officer only married two months ago. the other officer, officer ramos, was school safety officer for many years before finally

fulfilling his dream to become a new york city police officer three years ago. he just had his 40th birthday on december 12th. you try to put your arm around it. you try to make sense out of it. you really can't. it's maybe a tough time for the men and women of this department, for the new york city police department. but they'll do what we expect of them. that's what cops do. and it's not easy. [ inaudible ] >> there were postings, apparent ly by the individual, we believe, on instagram, the

instagram account of the woman that was wounded in baltimore. and part of our investigation will be to determine what was the motivation to the best of our understanding. so those instagram postings, which were very anti-police, based on the briefing i had, will also seek to go back over time into this suspect's life as to whether there were other postings he had as he was coming to new york. those are part of multiple investigations that are now underway to try and make sense of what was his motivation to come to new york. >> although, officer, it seems to me -- it seems to me that you can't go over the whole purpose of assassinating police officers. >> that is a part of what we will attempt to determine. some of the postings, which i

understand are out there would seem to be that he had a very strong bias against police officers. whatever went on with him and the girlfriend this morning, we'll try to put together in our investigation what was the actual motivation. >> i'm sorry? his latest residence, as best we can determine, is georgia. but he's a individual who appears to move around. he's got a girlfriend in baltimore. he comes to new york to murder two police officers. he does have some connectivity to brooklyn, but i won't go into the specifics of that at this time. we're still trying to put together his movements and where he's been over these last number of days and weeks and months. excuse me, one at a time,

please. [ inaudible ] >> we have no sense at this time that there's any connectivity to terrorist groups, an act of terrorism. we see nothing of that nature at this particular time. commissioner miller and his people are certainly looking at that aspect of it. chief boyce, chief of dete detectives, he'll be in charge of leading the criminal investigation. we don't see any organized activities, but we're really trying to learn as much as we can as quickly as we can about this individual. [ inaudible ] >> we're always concerned with that that you may recall several weeks ago that four young officers were attacked by an individual with a hatchet. our investigation of that clearly indicated that that was an act of terrorism. that that individual had become

a spy and committed that act by continual canvassing of web sites and in particular, isis-related web sites. we put out notices to our officers similar to what the federal government has put out encouraging officers to work in pairs, increase security around our station houses. so one of the unfortunate realities of policing is that you put that blue uniform on, and you become part of the thin, blue line between us and an article skill. t the specific motivation, hopefully we will be able to determine that.

>> this is a time to think about these families. it's a time to think about families that just lost their father, their husband, their son. we met those families. what we should be thinking about is how to support these families and how to ensure that not only our communities are safe, but our officers are safe. there is something important here. put information on the internet. it was a very, very brief timeline. but there may be other people posting things like this. what we should focus on is anybody knows anything or sends it to someone, it has to be reported right away so we can protect our officers, protect, again, our entire civilization.

>> nothing of this nature sbrooes in terms of some of the postings that this individual may have made this afternoon. let's face it, there's been, not just in new york, but tlout the country, a very strong, anti-police, anti-criminal justice system, anti-societal set of initiatives underway. one of the unfortunate aspects at times is some people get caught up in these and go in directions they should not. as to whether this individual was part of any of that, part of any demonstrations here, atlanta, where we believe the last residence, that's part of the investigation to determine what he has been doing these last several weeks and try to put some sanity to the madness that occurred here this afternoon in the streets of brooklyn.

>> there were protocols we put in place several weeks ago and, as much as possible, continuing to remind our officers about the importance of watching out for each other, if you will. but, please, the mayor is making aware to the public if they're aware of sentiments going over the line from talking about it to actually threatening or seeking to carry out attacks against not only police, but other officials, that this is, in some respects, just like the homeland security advisory. see something, say something. it doesn't just relate to terrorism. it relates to so many other issues. the tragedy here was that just

as the warning was coming in, the murder was occurring. and there's another irony here that we hope within a year, the mayor has made available a huge amount of money recently that we did several press conferences that we hope to equip every officer in the department with a smart phone and put into every one of our vehicles tablets that would have allowed that in an incident like this, where we have a photograph, well, the officers would get a description, but they would not see the photograph unless we're at a roll call. we could have instantly sent out to all 35,000 of our officers, here's a picture you need to be watching for. he has indicated he is going to attack police. or when we're missing a child, children. so the technology is coming. here's an example of how we try to benefit the safety of our officers and the public as we go forward.

>> we have no information in effect at this time. looking at the various cameras that might have been in the neighborhood, talking to people who might have been on the street, people who are in the buildings adjacent to where the shooting occurred. and, in that regard, if anybody seeing these newscasts reading about this aware that they may have information that might be an assistance to us, we essentially certainly encourage that they call us and give us that information, at least give us the opportunity to talk with them to see if information they might have might be helpful to us in the investigation. >> i' >>. >> i've already indicated that we don't see any linkage to

terrorism or radical groups. that's what we hope as we go forward as we have access to social media accounts. we haven't encountered that yet just as the incident occurred just about four hours ago. >> thank you, everybody. members of the media, please, just hang tight. >> that was new york city police commissioner joined by the new york mayor. both men extremely somber. and, at times, both men appeared to be emotional with the information that they were conveying. you could see the shock on their faces. i recognize that face, it's the face of a person who has had to tell a family the most distressing of news. and that is the loss of their loved one. and that is clearly what they have to do as they said that they met with the family members of those two murdered police officers shortly before briefing. everyone else on the e vebts that happened. the information is still coming in, but, essentially, these two

officers, officer lu and officer ramos were in their vehicle, in brooklyn, when, at 2:47 this afternoon, a suspect approached on the passenger side and, according to witnesses, took a shooting stance and fired multiple shots through that passenger window striking both officers in the head. they eventually died either on the way to the hospital or at the hospital, despite attempts to save their life. then, police on foot began a pursuit that ended up in the subway station of the g train. and aparentally, it was on the plat form of that station that the suspect allegedly took his own life with a gunshot. apparently, this actually began early this morning in baltimore with a shooting of which that suspect is alleged to have fired at his girl froebd, wounding her seriously and then began posting

on the internet about his intentions. baltimore police later learned he had a connection to brooklyn. they transmited, via fax, to the new york police department at 2:45, almost the instant which the shots were being fired. a warning to n.y.p.d. but it was too late. right now, tom fuentes, if you're still with us, having heard all of this, just what do you think is this. >> you can see, you know, for a police department, the death of one or two officers like we've just had is a death in the family. and, frankly, for all police officers, you know, across the country and around the world, these type of events are a death in family. you see the difficulty in trying

to stoic and maintain composure. he's met with the families and our hearts go out to the families and the fellow officers. this is a traumatic, horrible event to have happen to a police department. to a community. >> mayor deblasio put out a warning to the public to essentially say that the suspect may have, it appears, communicated in some way on social media. and if, in the future, anyone were to as they say, see something, say something. many americans are under the belief that law enforcement already monitors it. and that's not the case. >> let's just say n.y.p.d. got the warning one or two hours earlier. imagine the difficulty for the officers, on the street, then, if they didn't have a clear description of the subject, to start stop and frisk on young

african american males in the bed sty area of brook lylyn loog for someone that's got a gun. these are the type of tensions going on and the type of concerns that police officers have had on the street and will continue to have. gill, what's your thoughts on what you've heard about how this happened and where we go from here? >> well, these are two new yorkers, first of all. during the holidays. and they get assassinated. they have blue uniforms on and they were assassinated. they're really new yorkers just like everybody else. n.y.p.d. has been getting a bad rap in the last couple of months. but these guy, they weren't even assigned to that precinct.

they were there doing overtime, watching the projects, because the crime is a little higher there. there's no way that they're going to know that somebody is going to attack them. there's no way to really prepare for that. all the other officers tomorrow are going to go to work maybe a little more aware, but they're going to go to work just like they are today. they're going to be down at times square or by the tree with millions of people and they're going to do their job. this is a really unfortunate incident that happened to new yorkers in general. and i believe that most new yorkers really support the new york city police department. >> are you concerned that this, in any way, could be the beginning of a trend? >> no, that's not going to be a trend. this happened years ago, it was a trend. this guy is from out of town. he contemplated this himself. premeditated this himself. drew it up how he wanted to do it. had the intentions of killing two cops and then killing himself, in the long run.

usually, when somebody assassinates police officers or shoots at police officers, you go near them, they shoot themselves because that's what cowards they are. you can go any place in the world and shoot somebody. yeah, but he came to new york city and shot these two people that were totally innocent. you know, this is going to be in all of these officers' minds for the rest of their lives. all of these officers shot in the same manner in new york city is etched in almost every police officer, whether retired or future police officers, this will remain in their minds. >> this has been talked about even prior to today's tragedy. but there has been a falling out between i would say the mayor and the new york city police department. from the way you heard the police commissioner and the mayor speak tonight, do you see, perhaps, a difference? >> yeah, there's a big difference.

the commissioner went up there and talked about two new york city police officers. however, the mayor should be the one giving all the information out, to talk to the people of new york and what a tragedy this is. he should be doing all the talking. they asked him a political question and he day verted to something else. he has to realize that they're going to ask him all of these kinds of questions at some point. he went to the families. he's been to the families and that was a really, really good thing. i hope the families accepted him. what's going on in the police department right now, is, you know, they were signing these petitions. if anybody dies, not to have the mayor attend. hopefully, this starts -- you're talking about trends -- hopefully, this starts some kind of trend between the community and the police. so this outsider coming in

and somebody shooting somebody, and that's what happens with these investigations. as far as i'm saying, the majority of new yorkers are for the new york city police department. >> thank you, sir. and, again, our condolences to you and your department and toet families. lawrence segal, i want to bring you to the confers here because the mayor talked about social media. in some way, it a i peers that the suspected made on social media. basically, what can we say so far? >> i think he referenced multiple times these clues and how he looked at an instagram post. he also said that after shooting his girlfriend, he posted on her instagram accounts. you can see the role that this is playing. i will say it was e it was very interesting to see them talk about what you mentioned before,

if you see something, say something. you know? it used to be if you were on the subway and something didn't look reich e rig right, you see something, you say something. now, you hear from the n.y.p.d., you hear that the internet is a new form. we all have a social responsibility which if you see something threatening, that someone was absolutely threatening to harm cons. shoot cops. another thing, if it was very interesting, they talk about the same kind of the brooklyn n.y.p.d. ambush.

it's a way of protecting your own force. as we here confirm to some of these social media posts, you see that this wasn't a terrorist attack. this is him specifically talking about these intentions before this. >> the press conference just concluded and where the officers were taken, alexandra, what is it doing now? i don't think she can hear me. >> martin, i've got you now. >> i was just asking, in the aftermath of this pretty remarkable press conference and what we've learned, what is the feeling now? >> reporter: i think we were all struck not only by the n.y.p.d. officers, but we saw in here that very somber move that we

talked about with the quietness where you could hear a pin drop in the hallways. same sort of tone reflected by the mayor. they really wanted to spend a lot of time focusing on two nypd officers who were, as they say, assassinated. these two officers probably never saw it coming. they did take us through some of the details of what happened. these are two officers who were not working in their precinct. they were in what's called a critical response vehicle. we know that they've been commissioned because of complaints of violence in their area. the officers were hit in the head and pronounced dead. the tone in here, incredibly,

enormously sad day for these police departments. you haeeard the mayor say that they lost two big men. we know that a lot of the attention right now is on the suspected. the investigation has revealed to officers that this is somebody who targeted these two men because they were wearing police uniforms. but the question hasn't been answered yet. what was the specific grudge with law enforcement that caused this suspect to act out with a grudge that led to this attack that they're not addressing at this point. they do say that his lawyer has been taking us through, but they're going to look at social media postings to get a better understanding. a lot of talk today about the service of these two officers and service of all nypd officers, who do put their lives on the line every day and have

been targets of attacks twice now in the last month of this city. >> alexandra, thank you very e very much for that. i want to turn to aaron lewis, certainly, a person who knows new york, knows law enforcement here and has covered it from the perspective of the media. aaron, from what you've heard, from what you've saw, your feelings? >> reporter: you know, martin, great, great sadness. for a lot of people. we have a lot of differences with a lot of different issues. we've played those issues out in the political arena, sometimes out in the street, even, with protests. this is something different and it really strikes right at thehearted of the city. my dad was -- is an retired inspector and i also have a sister who's a detective, she's also retired now. my main feeling goes out to the

13-year-old of officer ra 34rks os. now, you know, we all, groik up, you know, you grow up in a household with cops. and, you know, you put it to the back of your mind because you know the risks are under control and you know that there's a professionalism and there's protection and there's, you know, safety in numbers. but, in the back of your mind, there's always that possibility that, you know, maybe daddy doesn't come home tomorrow. and that is a very grievous wound. tomorrow, there's going to be a lot of finger pointing. there's a lot of rage under the surface. >> who's going to point at who? >> well, the police union. the pba was already in a very hot tempered war of words with the mayor. you know, for all of the mayor saying if you see something, say

something, well, you know, there was a march through the streets of new york. there were cameras on it and everything, with people saying what do we want, dead cops. when do we want it, now. that kind of stuff. that's how ugly it had started to get in recent days. and, you know, to act as if this was just a matter of, well, if only we've been able to get this image and warning out to a bunch of cops, electronically, they might have been on high alert, no. the rhetoric was getting out of control. the rhetoric was getting very heated and very angry. and, as i mentioned, you know, we had a period of protest. we'd been kind of politically fighting this out in the streets, as far as the right kind of policing. the right way to deal with police uses 06 force. >> what about the protests that might come out and say that this was the wrong way to deal with emotions that seem to be

triggered by dissatisfaction with a previous police action. do you think those who have protested so strongly now should come out and support? or at least express that this was wrong? >> there's already some signs on twitter, certainly. and there's already been some signs that one of the main groups that call themselves the new york city justice league, that they're going to have a candle light vigil tomorrow to move this conversation to a different and better place. that's a step in the right direction. but that's about the first step backwards that we've heard. et's been a very big risk and increasingly angry debate. it got even angrier just the other day when a couple of cops who were policing one of the many, many, many demonstrations going on that attacked. they got beaten up. they got jumped. you know. that has not been part of what was going on here until recently.

there were a number of conservatives who probably didn't really like them there in the first place, to be honest about it. they're saying the mayor needs to reassert control. it's not enough the say there's a first amendment right to protest. if you moe who they are or what their motives are. there was going to be some crimination and some finger pointing anyway. but it's now going to be that much more bitter. it's going to be that much more emotional now that these two guys, you know, members of our city, were murdered, were assassinated this way. it takes almost nothing away from the fact that it was an outsider -- >> um-hmm. >> although that is important in some regards. it's not like new york is tearing itself apart completely with this.

but why is new york city a place to come and do that? that's something we should all be asking ourselves as new yorkers. >> the mayor made the point that this was not just an attack against two officers, this was an attack against an entire city. clearly, he's trying to say that all have to come together at this horrible time. this goes to the statements that the commissioner was talking about. aapartmently, posting on line by this particular suspected that they've identified is 28-year-old ishmael brinsley, the commissioner said showed a very strong bias against police officers. and that he was very anti-police. >> one of the last photos i saw that was taken down was i'm putting wings on pig s today. they took one of ours, let's

take one of theirs. it said this might be my final post. it was an emoji of a gun with bull ets coets coming out of it. when you hear the commissioner talking about that social post, you begin to connect the dots again. we're looking right now at his facebook page. a couple posts 11 hours ago, the gunman posted i always wanted to be known for doing something right. but my past is stopping me and my present is haunting me. an hour before that, why live if you don't love to live. right now, you're looking at that instagram post. this is a post, hash tag shoot the police with blood on his leg. obviously, these guys are looking at these digital clufs and beginning to piece together -- >> this is posted for everyone to see. so why isn't someone immediately

saying this is a problem. this person is dangerous. report them then. >> this was up before it was taken down. you had people, before it was taken down, liking it and commenting on it. and i think this is why when you hear the n.y.p.d. out there, you hear the commissioner, the mayor, get out there and say if you see something, say something. this is almost a new call to arms for people on the internet. friends and family members that may have anger issues, when you see something as horrible, as damning as this posting. looking at his digital profile, there were many clues that he was about to do something pretty terrific. >> tom, let me ask you this. we're talking about these postings that clearly if someone was shouting them in public, you would e you would call the p cos. but because it's posted on the internet, i'm wondering, do people take a different attit e attitude? in other words, they don't take it as seriously. >> i think that's probably true, martin.

because of the anonimty, most of the times, on some of the postin postings, maybe people don't take it completely seriously. my question is, having been a street cop for more than 6 years before 30 years in the f.b.i., what would n.y.p.d. had done if they had gotten the information. imagine they start in the mid 8 middle of the afternoon stopping every young black man because he might have a gun and might intend to shoot police? i don't know what they would have tone had they gotten the information. >> i am struck by the fact that it was chun kaommunicated by a . is that the way police departments chun kat, tom? >> no, you send communications faster than by fax. maybe it was the use of words, to put it that way. no, cables are sent back and

forth between police departments, alerts through a variety of systems that can go interstate, police-to-police, or department-to-department or, just in general, to everybody. in this case, they had information from what they were hearing, probably from the girlfriend or their mother, that he may have had intentions to go to brooklyn, which is why they centered the fax to or the cable to brooklyn, n.y.p.d. in bro brooklyn. but, again, you know, i'd like to hear a police officer in management position say what would they do had they gotten that information in that community in that time with everything that's going on. if they start aggressive ly doig a stop and frisk on young black males in brooklyn. >> that has already been a huge issue in this city.

i'm wondering what comes next for the officers themselves? they put on the badge and go to work, all of them, tomorrow. but this must hang very heavy. >> 35,000 police officers are all going to go to work tomorrow. new york is the mecca of the world. they know what they do. they know their job. they know what they have to do. i'm sure they will be comfortable with that, doing their jobs. or they can be a little more aware of what happened? yeah, of course they are. is this going to stick in their minds? yes, it will stick in their minds for the rest of their lives. it's going to be etched in their minds, all the officers killed in the line of duty are etched in their minds from the police officers before to future police officers. this is a major, major event. and it's not all new york city. this is the law enforcementce

forcement around the world, basically, but in america that someone would come in. an assassination like this. you're talking about having information about an assassination and could this have been prevented? this is the element of surprise. this guy intended how to kill these guys, what he was going to do and where he was going to do and killed himself. so he had no fear of what he was going to do. it's not impossible to stop these guys, because, you know, you had some kind of evidence ahead of time. but, you know, what could they have done? they're sitting in their car. they're eating. they're from a different presixth. they're all relaxed. how can you prevent something like that. so this is a major, major tragedy of new york city. >> it is, indeed. gill alba, thank you very much for the insight there. in case you're just joining us, the confers is about the assassination of two new york

police officers as they sat in their patrol car this afternoon in brooklyn. the suspect was chased by other law enforcement and then took his own life. what was the motivation behind this kind of bla tatant attack broad day light there was a news conference a short time ago. let's listen to some of the mayor's conference. >> the mayor and i have just come from visiting with the families of the two murdered police officers. a time of great emotion, of great passion. so please bear with us as we try

to bring some sense to the madness that occurred this afternoon in the streets of brooklyn. it's sometimes difficult to find the words to speak to events like those that have occurred today. to try to make sense of them. but we'll try. today, two of new york's finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation. they were quite simply assassinated. targeted for their uniform and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe. at 2:47 today, the officers were assigned to a critical response vehicle, crvs as we referred to them in the confines of the 7-9 precinct.

while crv is particularly used for counter terrorism operations, this past may, we assigned some vehicles to housing development throughout the city. developments that have seen increased violence in recent years, like the tompkins house like the officers were stationed. while sitting in a mark n.y.p.d. car in 23full uniform, they were ambushed and murdered. both officers were assigned to the 8-4 precinct, but were posted to this department to address violence in the area of the housing developments in that area. officer ramos was in the driver's seat. and officer lu was in the front

passenger seetat behind e besid him. according to witnesses' statements, the suspected has been identified as 28-year-old,e ishmael brimsley. he walked up to the car and took a shooting stance and fired his weapon several times through the front passenger window striking both officers in the head. the officers never had the opportunity to draw their weapons. they may have never actually everyone seen their assailant, their murderer. officer officers assigned to the post immediately pursued brimsley southbound on tompkins eave. he fled to the g train subway station. he proceeded down the stairs on

to the westbound subway plat form. while on the platform, he shot himself in the head, took his own life. a silver firearm was recovered on the platform near the suspect's body. the officers were transported here to woodhill -- woodhall hopt. both officers tragedy succumbed that e to their injuries. on behalf of the new york city police department, i extend my deepest condolences to the families. both officers paid the ultimate sacrifice today, while protecting the communities they serve. the suspect was transported to brooklyn hospital where he was pronounced dead. we are concurrently continuing to investigate this incident. i want to thank at this time for

the vail yent efforts to resuscitate our officers. some background information relative to the events leading up to the murder of our two officers today. at approximately 5:45 this morning in baltimore county, maryland, the rereceived inform from the victim's mother that was posted on the victim's instagram acount. further associations with the east flatbush area of brooklyn. at approximately 2:45 this afternoon, baltimore authorities sent a fax, a warning flier, a wanted flier to the n.y.p.d. and other agencies.

tragedy, this was at the same time as our officers were being am best of your recollectioned and murdered. this is not the first time this department has seen such violence. seven times since 1972 we have seen partners murdered together, often in incidents like this, minus assassinations without warning. our officers know this from memorial walls in our precincts and e aheadquarters and from th stories we hand down. never theless, they do what we expect of them. they grieve, they mourn, but then they go out on to the stree streets of the city and work to keep it safe every day and every night. >> that is new york city police commissioner william bratten. alexander field was at that press conference. etch in the studio, you can

sense the emotion that must have been so powerful in that room. >> it's just an enormously painful day. yes, in that newsroom, around the country right now, all eyes on what has happened in new york city. this, bringing to light about how a lot of -- this is the second attack in a month. just a month a e ago, that hatchet attack. today, two police officers shot and kill ed two police officers. now the question has to be raised, can more really be done in order to warn police officers in this case of what we are hearing from the commissioner, what we are hearing from the mayor who came from this hopt today to address the media. is that the two officers that were killed this afternoon in their patrol car may have never even seen the suspected coming.

it is quite possible that they nechb even saw them approach their patrol car by the time he pulled out his weapon and fired several shots. this is where countless members of the n.y.p.d. has gathered. we saw dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, inside that hospital. an incredibly somber and refl t reflective speech about the loss of life of two of his officers in a critical response vehicle. that's what they call it. the question now is why they were targeted. the explanation we've been given is that it is clear from their investigation that the suspected was going after these officers because they were police officers in uniform.

because the suspect holds a grudge. what we didn't hear is what specifically motivated the suspect to attack here today. we know that they all are getting a lot of clues from those profiles. that debate is to what may motivate for this to continue in the days to come. >> thank you very much. we're going to take a break right now and come back with more after this. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season...

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if you are just joining us, we are following the breaking news of the death of two new york city police officers who

were shot to death as they sat in their patrol car in brooklyn. they were on a special assignment in a neighborhood where it had been reported of higher crime. they were trying to do something about that when it was said that the 28-year-old suspect came up on the passenger side of their vehicle, took a shooting stance and fired it near point-blank range. they died and the suspect later took his own life. i have tom fuentez who has been joining us from washington and harold lewis who is a new yorker, well-known, close association with law enforcement. erol, let me ask you this, it's going to come out now that they're going to look at the large numbers of people who showed up to protest against police and say where are they now in light of what has happened. and i'm wondering what's the right e right answer for that?

>> you know, it's a very interesting question. there are a number of people who have called for demonstration. and it's not just their right, but, indeed, their obligation. if you think there's something wrong in society, you should do something about it. we're always telling people that shale e they should. when it looks like something in that whole general environment, now includes horrible violence against police, well, i guess the first question is is this even part of that same conversation around aggressive policing. there are people in the middle of a very, very big political fight. some of what i'm seeing online, i'm almost hoping that it's not true, that there are quotes from a news organization saying that the mayor's hands are dripping with blood and this sort of a thing. none of that is appropriate or helpful.

or really even true. we've got to try to figure out a way to bring all of this back to what's basic and what's universally shared. what's universally shared are the things that the mayor and the police commissioner are talking about. nobody wants to see guys that are working for good pay, but not great pay. really doing a job that not everybody wants to do. who wants to sit in a freezing car in the middle of that being murdered that way. i would like to think that this is something that nobody wanted. hopefully, will take a break for maybe a day or two. i kind of doubt it. i know i'm focusing on new york, but it's going to really, really be a heart wrenching seize.

those who see this humanity see that this is mostly about a bunch of shattered families that can't be put back together fully. or they're going to come closest to the truth. >> i just have to stop you for a moment. only because the point that you make was brought on very quickly by an eyewitness to this whole tragedy earlier today. i want to play her sound byte because she really got it. >> no, she told me they got shot in the car. we've got to take back our communities. if you're mad at somebody, be mad at the person you're mad at. now we have two families missing somebody for the holidays? regardless or what, where's your humani humanity? i know there's a war going on but you're not at his house on his lawn. you don't even know if they were good or bad. i don't condone this. i'm not with it. i'm not with it. >> she does express it in a great way.

tom fuentes, i want to ask ewe this. if law enforcement does not see demonstrators denounszicing thi incredibly horrible act, is it going to be perceived by law enforcement that those two don't speak out go along with it? >> i don't think that they'll look at it that way, that people going along with that. thank you, shaniqua for such an eloquent statement right at the time as this happened. that will be right and that will help a long way. the plifs are going to do their job and i think the commissioner had that right. you know, they will go and continue to do the work that they've always done. officers have died in the line of duty. all of us have attended police funerals, almost once a year through my 40 years in law enforcemented. we're familiar with that this is what happens. there are people like this in our society.

they do come out and do things like this. police officers know it, but they'll go back to work. the surviving officers continue the protection of society. >> and laurie segal, first of all, the name, 28 years of age, said to be down in the atlanta-georgia area. but postings online. you found more of what he was putting up in instagram? >> right now, you're looking at pictures of him on facebook. he posted quite often. there's a picture of him in a mask and a friend commented you look like a cop. you begin to piece together some of the information about him.

but before the photo was taken down, there were many comments on it. it said i'm putting wings on pigs today. they take one of ours, let's take two of theirs. hash tag, shoot the police. this may be my final post. you see a gun. you know, this was, when you look at it, there were digital clues left behind that something horrible could potentially happen. >> we have already heard from tom fuentes that police don't sit there monitoring social media. shouldn't they say way e wait a minute and then alert authorities? >> i think there's more of a push for this now. you hear a lot of these attacks oftentimes start online. there's really a push to try to figure out a way to monitor. very difficult.

it would be hard to go from a to b to be able to look at this post and stop this man before this incident happened. but that is something that happened. >> tom fuen trksz es, are you still with us? >> yes, i am. >> again, as i mentioned earlier, you know, to put out a general description as a young black man walking through a black neighborhood like that, you know, what do the police do with that? if they have a name and an address, or if they have a license plate and a vehicle description and they stop that car, that's a little more specific. but, again, it goes down to how many during the protest, how many times have we heard people criticized that they were stopped by police who said you

meet the general description of somebody what we're looking for. that's what you would have had here had that alert gone out earlier in the day. >> it wouldn't necessarily have ended with what has been a horrible day in new york city. we also should point out here that the president has been briefed, we are being told, and he is aware of the developemens here 234 new york. the head of law enforcement in this country is well aware. what about postings? where does this dialogue go in light of what has happened. >> i think this is a tough one. it's not like you can go to facebook and you can go to instagram and say hand over all of this information. this is tension developing in the last couple years. i think what is really interesting about hearing from

the police, hearing from the n.y.p.d., hearing them say that we now have a social responsibility. if you were on the subway and you saw something a little suspici suspicisu suspicio suspicious, the whole idea, if you see something, say something. now, we have a responsibility 20 say something. >> you're talking about a younger kind of demographic. they're in that mind set that says yeah, i need to call somebody? >> this is a conversation that needs to start talking early. that responsibility is probably moving online now. this post, this is e nstagram post, this was up before it was taken down. you're looking at it now. this was all before it was taken down. we do have a responsibility and i think you hear the mayor call on us, if you do see something, to say something now. >> tom, we've only got about two minutes left. as far as what happens next in

this public debate, what would you like to see happen? >> i think there has to be an honest assessment of what happens when a police officer does ae encounter somebody. now somebody says something, what does that mean for the police officer who gets the radio call who says somebody has just reported a suspicious person walking down the street. now, that police officer has to go have an encounter with a stranger who is not going to probably appreciate having the introduction by a police officer worth, you know -- what if it creates, for every one of those calls, it creates the potential for a difficult encounter between a police officer and a person on the street. >> i think emp agrees we are at a game-changing pinnacle here of what has been a long build up of tensions over law enforcement. and now we see a person that

appears to be misguided carry out a fatal attack of two new york city police officers. that investigation is still underway. again, two officers shot dead, asas nated, according to the police commissioner and the mayor in brooklyn this afternoon by a suspect who appears to have traveled from baltimore. it began with violence in that city and then came to new york. many believe that the background of this actually dates back many weeks and to others in law enforcement leading to other grand jury decisions. >> thanks to our international viewers who have been following us here. we should remind you that for our international audience, you will be moving onto your schedule. as for those here on cnn domestic, you will be watching the cnn film dinosaur 13. we'll point out and the latest events beginning at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning on "new day."

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