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Thousands attend New York funeral of murdered NYPD officer Rafael Ramos
Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu were shot dead last Saturday
De Blasio and vice-president Biden to speak in Queens
Thousands attend funeral of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos – in pictures
NYPD on alert after spate of threats to officers
Rafael Ramos funeral
Police outside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens salute during the playing of the national anthem before the funeral of Officer Rafael Ramos. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Amanda Holpuch and agencies in New York
Saturday 27 December 2014 09.58 EST
Hundreds of police officers gathered outside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens on Saturday, to attend the funeral of Rafael Ramos, one of two New York Police Department officers killed in an ambush shooting in Brooklyn last week.
Nearly three miles down the road from where Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot as they sat in their patrol car, officers wearing black strips over their badges out of respect for the fallen officers stood outside the church. Sniffer dogs and suited men with earpieces wandered through the crowd.
Both officers were members of the 84th precinct, which entered the church first, followed by some of Ramos’ family and friends. Justin Ramos, the officer’s eldest son, entered wearing his father’s jacket.
Officers from as far away as California were in attendance, including members of the Los Angeles Police Department, according to officials. Members of the Fire Department of New York were also outside the church before the service.
The NYPD has warned offers to increase vigilance since the shooting. The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, made anti-police statements before shooting the two officers. By Saturday, nine arrests had been made for making threats to police.
Vice president Joe Biden and New York mayor Bill de Blasio were expected to speak at the funeral of Officer Ramos, a day after thousands of police officers from across the country attended his eight-hour wake.
“What happened to my father was a tragedy,” Justin Ramos said on Friday in a tearful eulogy that was seen by hundreds of officers, watching on giant television screens outside the crowded church. “But his death will not be in vain.”
Ramos, a 40-year-old married father of two, was studying to become a pastor and kept Bible study books in his locker, his commanding officer said.
Funeral plans for his partner, Officer Liu, have yet to be announced.
Investigators have said Brinsley was troubled and had shot and wounded an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore earlier that day.
Brinsley killed himself soon after the shooting. In online posts shortly before the attack, Brinsley referenced the killings of two unarmed black men – Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island – by white police officers last summer.
Some police union officials have said de Blasio contributed to a climate of mistrust toward police amid protests over the deaths of Brown and Garner. At a hospital after the shooting, the police union’s president, Patrick Lynch, and others turned their backs on the mayor in a sign of disrespect. Lynch blamed the mayor then for the officers’ deaths and said he had blood on his hands.
Mayor Bill de Blasio observes a moment of silence for Officer Wenjian Liu and Officer Rafael Ramos. Photograph: Startraks Photo/REX/Startraks Photo/REX
Weeks before the shooting, Lynch suggested that officers sign a petition requesting that the mayor not attend their funerals were they to die in the line of duty. Cardinal Timothy Dolan and others have since called for such officials to temper the rhetoric.
De Blasio has stood by the police since the shooting, calling on demonstrators to temporarily halt protests and praising officers after the NYPD announced the arrest of a seventh person since the shooting for making threats against police.
On Thursday, the mayor briefly attend Ramos’ wake but made no comments. There was no noticeable reaction from the officers upon his arrival, and Ramos’ family has said they welcome the mayor’s presence at the funeral.
On Friday, an anonymous person paid for a an aerial sign to be flown over New York City. It read: “de Blasio, our backs have turned to you.”
Ramos and Liu were the first officers to die in the line of duty in New York since 2011. They have both been posthumously promoted to first-grade detective, police said
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Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu were shot dead last Saturday
De Blasio and vice-president Biden to speak in Queens
Thousands attend funeral of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos – in pictures
NYPD on alert after spate of threats to officers
Rafael Ramos funeral
Police outside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens salute during the playing of the national anthem before the funeral of Officer Rafael Ramos. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Amanda Holpuch and agencies in New York
Saturday 27 December 2014 09.58 EST
Hundreds of police officers gathered outside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens on Saturday, to attend the funeral of Rafael Ramos, one of two New York Police Department officers killed in an ambush shooting in Brooklyn last week.
Nearly three miles down the road from where Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot as they sat in their patrol car, officers wearing black strips over their badges out of respect for the fallen officers stood outside the church. Sniffer dogs and suited men with earpieces wandered through the crowd.
Both officers were members of the 84th precinct, which entered the church first, followed by some of Ramos’ family and friends. Justin Ramos, the officer’s eldest son, entered wearing his father’s jacket.
Officers from as far away as California were in attendance, including members of the Los Angeles Police Department, according to officials. Members of the Fire Department of New York were also outside the church before the service.
The NYPD has warned offers to increase vigilance since the shooting. The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, made anti-police statements before shooting the two officers. By Saturday, nine arrests had been made for making threats to police.
Vice president Joe Biden and New York mayor Bill de Blasio were expected to speak at the funeral of Officer Ramos, a day after thousands of police officers from across the country attended his eight-hour wake.
“What happened to my father was a tragedy,” Justin Ramos said on Friday in a tearful eulogy that was seen by hundreds of officers, watching on giant television screens outside the crowded church. “But his death will not be in vain.”
Ramos, a 40-year-old married father of two, was studying to become a pastor and kept Bible study books in his locker, his commanding officer said.
Funeral plans for his partner, Officer Liu, have yet to be announced.
Investigators have said Brinsley was troubled and had shot and wounded an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore earlier that day.
Brinsley killed himself soon after the shooting. In online posts shortly before the attack, Brinsley referenced the killings of two unarmed black men – Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island – by white police officers last summer.
Some police union officials have said de Blasio contributed to a climate of mistrust toward police amid protests over the deaths of Brown and Garner. At a hospital after the shooting, the police union’s president, Patrick Lynch, and others turned their backs on the mayor in a sign of disrespect. Lynch blamed the mayor then for the officers’ deaths and said he had blood on his hands.
Mayor Bill de Blasio observes a moment of silence for Officer Wenjian Liu and Officer Rafael Ramos. Photograph: Startraks Photo/REX/Startraks Photo/REX
Weeks before the shooting, Lynch suggested that officers sign a petition requesting that the mayor not attend their funerals were they to die in the line of duty. Cardinal Timothy Dolan and others have since called for such officials to temper the rhetoric.
De Blasio has stood by the police since the shooting, calling on demonstrators to temporarily halt protests and praising officers after the NYPD announced the arrest of a seventh person since the shooting for making threats against police.
On Thursday, the mayor briefly attend Ramos’ wake but made no comments. There was no noticeable reaction from the officers upon his arrival, and Ramos’ family has said they welcome the mayor’s presence at the funeral.
On Friday, an anonymous person paid for a an aerial sign to be flown over New York City. It read: “de Blasio, our backs have turned to you.”
Ramos and Liu were the first officers to die in the line of duty in New York since 2011. They have both been posthumously promoted to first-grade detective, police said
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