The New York Police Department has identified Ismaaiyl Brinsley as the man who shot two NYPD officers execution style, as they sat in their patrol car, before taking his own life in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (also known as “Bed-Stuy”) section of Brooklyn at about 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20.
The horrific episode has created mammoth shockwaves that is reverberating from New York City Hall all the way to the White House. And the fact that officers have found evidence this was a premeditated revenge killing for the recent spate of black men who have died at the hands of the police only intensifies the palpable tension between authorities and the community.
Here are seven things we know so far about the suspect Brinsley: