Attempted Murder of a Police Officer': Accused Queens Shooter Faces Charges

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Zach Noble

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NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of shooting a New York City police officer in the head will be arraigned Sunday on charges including two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, officials said.

Demetrius Blackwell was arrested Saturday night in the shooting of Officer Brian Moore, who remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

Police officer Brian Moore, left, and the man accused of shooting him in the face, Demetrius Blackwell. (Images via WABC-TV)

Blackwell, 35, was expected to be arraigned Sunday afternoon, the Queens district attorney's office said. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.

Moore, 25, was rushed to a hospital in a patrol car after he and his partner pulled up in an unmarked police car to a man who was adjusting his waistband suspiciously, police Commissioner William Bratton said.

The officers exchanged words with the man before he turned suddenly and fired at least twice, striking Moore, Bratton said. His partner, Officer Erik Jansen, radioed for help.

"They did not have an opportunity to get out and return fire," the commissioner said at a Saturday night news conference at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials.

After the shooting, witnesses described Blackwell to responding officers and pointed them in the direction he ran, Bratton said. Officers searched house by house and some could be seen walking on roofs as helicopters flew overhead.

Police arrested Blackwell near the crime scene in a house on the block where he lives, officials said.

Image via WABC-TV

De Blasio said the shooting was a painful reminder of the risks officers take every day.

"Our hearts are with his family, his loved ones," the mayor said. "Our hearts are with his extended family, the men and women of the NYPD."

Moore, who comes from a family of police officers, has been on the job since July 2010.

Moore's listed address is a small, well-kept house in the Long Island hamlet of Massapequa — a tight-knit community where neighbors have known each other well for decades. Many families have relatives who are police officers.

Neighbors had only kind words for Moore, some saying they shed tears after hearing he was shot.

The shooting instantly evoked fears of the December slayings of two uniformed officers as they sat in their patrol cars in Brooklyn by a man who posted online that he was seeking retribution against officers for the death of Eric Garner in an apparent chokehold by police.

The shootings of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos strained an already tense relationship between city police unions and de Blasio. Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch turned his back on the mayor at a hospital the day of the killings and said de Blasio had "blood on his hands."

But Saturday night, Lynch was among the officials who attended the news conference and could be seen shaking the mayor's hand and speaking briefly with him afterward.

Bratton said Blackwell has a criminal record that includes a weapons possession charge, but the suspect made no such anti-police postings and was being pursued by the anti-crime officers because of his behavior.

Neighbors near the scene of the shooting were surprised by the violence and described the residential area with many two- and three-family homes as quiet and safe.

"You walk down the street, no trouble," said Sandreaus Adam, 52. "This is not a neighborhood where you're just going to hear shots."

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Associated Press writers Jake Pearson and Tom Hays contributed to this report.