Two New York policemen 'assassinated': police chief

“Today, two of New York’s finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told a news conference. “They were quite simply assassinated.”

The two officers were “ambushed and murdered” — shot in the head — as they sat in the front two seats of a marked NYPD police car, Bratton said.

The motive for the attack was under investigation but there were no indications so far of any connection to terrorism, Bratton said.

The officers had been assigned to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood to address complaints of violence around housing projects in the area.

Bratton named the assailant as 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley. He walked up to the car and fired his weapon several times through the passenger window, according to Bratton.

Neither officer had the opportunity to draw their weapons and may never even have seen their assailant.

Brinsley then fled on foot and entered a nearby subway station.

“While on the platform, Brinsley 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,” said Bratton. – AFP