Ismaaiyl Brinsley Video: Surveillance Footage Shows NYPD Killer Before Attack
Details of what Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the killer of two NYPD officers, was doing moments before he attacked the unsuspecting men are coming to light in a surveillance video released Tuesday.
As New York City prepares to bury two of its citizens, investigators continue their work in trying to the events that led Ismaaiyl Brinsley to kill the cops in cold blood, as they sat in their patrol car on their lunch break. The images show the 28-year-old man walking through a mall next to the Barlcays Center in Brooklyn.
Brinsley had a violent criminal record and may have been mentally ill, according to police and had vowed to “kill pigs” that day. WABC discovered court documents that indicate Brinsley was arrested in Ohio for theft and robbery, and in Georgia for robbery, shoplifting, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly conduct, and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
Additionally, the New York Times reports Ismaaiyl Brinsley was convicted on weapons charges in Georgia in 2011 and served two years in prison for that crime. Altogether, Brinsley was arrested 19 times in Georgia and Ohio, according to the Associated Press. He had trouble with the law in Brooklyn as well, where his family still lives and where he murdered the two NYPD cops on Saturday.
The surveillance video showing Ismaaiyl Brinsley moments before the heinous crime, was reportedly captured a short while after he arrived from Baltimore, via a Bolt Bus, with the intention of killing two of New York’s finest. The criminal ranted about his motives on Instagram, where he appeared to be sympathetic to Eric Garner and Michael Brown, both killed by police officers. He used the social media site frequently to threaten police.
The NYPD decided to release the Ismaaiyl Brinsley video in hopes that members of the public will come forward to help them piece the events of the tragic day, as they continue to investigate. In the clip, Brinsley is shown carrying a plastic bag, which authorities believe contains the Taurus handgun he used to shoot NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce appealed to the public for assistance.
“What you see over here are some images, we have a tape of the Atlantic Center Mall. We’re asking the public’s assistance if they see him – because right now we don’t know where he was for two hours.”
“He’s walking round there, he has a bag in his hand, he’s had that bag in his hand for most of the day. We have him with that bag over by the crime scene as well. We believe the gun was in that bag.”
“It’s a Styrofoam container within that white bag – we’re thinking he pulled it out when he wanted to shoot.”
Police believe Ismasiyl Brinsley took the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn after making up his mind that he was going to kill two random NYPD officers. Investigators know Brinsley visited the Barclay Center after finding his ex-girlfriend, Sheneka Thompson’s cell phone there. The woman had also been shot by the suspect, who took his own life as police pursued him following the murders.
If you have any information about the Ismaaiyl Brinsley surveillance video, you are asked to contact the NYPD.
[Image via NYPD]
