By Sadef Kully
A couple of hours after NYPD Officer Brian Moore died Monday, Police Commissioner William Bratton stood outside Jamaica Hospital surrounded by hundreds police officers in uniform and plain clothes, members of the Fire Department, retired police officers and officials.
The 25-year-old officer’s family, from Long Island saluted the ambulance that carried Moore’s body away from the hospital, where he had been treated since being shot in the head Saturday evening while he and his partner were on patrol.
“It is a great loss for his family, a great loss for the city and great loss for the department,” said Bratton, who was joined by union leader Patrick Lynch of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. “We are going to take part in a sad, sad tradition,” said Lynch about the informal procession that took place later on.
In Moore’s brief police career of five years, he made over 150 arrests and received two exceptional service medals, Bratton said. Moore, who came from a long line of police officers, began his career as a NYPD officer in 2010.
The accused shooter, Demetrius Blackwell, 35, from Queens Village, was initially charged with firing at the two police officers, striking Moore in the face and critically wounding him in a confrontation in Queens Village, the Queens DA said.
Blackwell was arrested 90 minutes after the incident and charged with attempted murder, the Queens district attorney’s office said.
DA Richard Brown said the charges were not upgraded to murder in the first degree, which carries a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
It was not known whether the murder weapon had been recovered.
Police were sweeping the streets near the scene of the shooting Monday and had four blocks cordoned off in an apparent effort to find the gun.
Blackwell, who did not make a plea in court before Judge Michael Yavinsky Sunday afternoon, was also charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and assault, according to the criminal complaint filed by the DA’s office.
Hundreds of police officers gathered in court to see Blackwell being charged Sunday afternoon along with Lynch, who said after the arraignment at a news conference on the courthouse steps, “You hurt one of us, you hurt all of us.”
Lynch also mentioned that Blackwell was someone who called himself a “hell-raiser.”
According to the criminal complaint, at 6:15 p.m. Saturday in front of 212-11 104 Road, Moore, who was assigned to the 105th Precinct’s Anti-Crime Unit, was with his partner in plain clothes riding in an unmarked police vehicle as they conducted patrol. They slowly rode up alongside Blackwell. who allegedly removed a firearm from his waistband and fired a number of shots at Moore and his partner, Officer Erik Jansen, who were still inside their vehicle, the DA said.
Officials said that after realizing Moore was seriously wounded, Jansen, who was not injured, radioed for help. Moore was struck once in the head, causing severe injuries requiring surgery at Jamaica Hospital, where he was medically induced into coma, according to the police.
Police said that several witnesses observed a male fitting the description of Blackwell fleeing the area and he was taken into custody about 90 minutes later inside a residence nearby.
Residents who were in disbelief at the whole incident said most neighbors knew both Moore and also the accused shooter. Family friends described Blackwell’s family as good people and said that “he was really trying to stay out of trouble for the past year.”
“I knew Officer Moore and even invited him to our family barbecue this summer. It is one of the saddest things,” said Robert, who declined to give his last name. He grew up less than a block away from Blackwell and knew the family well.
Blackwell has an extensive arrest history, which includes criminal possession of a weapon and robbery, police said.
