On December 20, 2014, Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley shot and killed Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu — two on-duty New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers — in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Earlier in the day, before he killed Ramos and Liu, Brinsley had shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in Baltimore after initially pointing the gun at his own head.

[1] The shooting occurred just weeks after a grand jury decided not to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was responsible for the death of Eric Garner on July 17, 2014.

[2] The grand jury's decision resulted in widespread protests in New York City and across the nation against police brutality and the lack of accountability for it.

[5][6][7] Before Brinsley arrived in Brooklyn by bus, he shot and seriously wounded his 29-year-old ex-girlfriend, Shaneka Nicole Thompson, in the Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills, Maryland, on Saturday morning.

[7] Brinsley approached the passenger window of an NYPD patrol car occupied by Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32, of Brooklyn's 84th Precinct.

He then fired a semiautomatic handgun four times through the open window, striking Ramos and Liu in the head and upper body, killing both officers instantly.

The Silver Shield Foundation, founded by the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, announced it would pay for the education of Ramos' 13-year-old son, Jaden.

Bowdoin College said it would provide full financial aid to Ramos' elder son, who was then a sophomore at the school, so he could complete his education.

[13] The service was almost five hours long and was broadcast around the world, with many people coming from across the country to pay their respects to the slain officers.

[21][22][23] In late 2021, Chen attempted to use her late husband's NYPD benefits plan to file for Child Survivor Benefits with the Social Security Administration for their daughter, but was initially denied twice due to an outdated legal definition of the term "biological parents"; moreover, the denial claim stated that Liu did not provide a signed consent with two witnesses to provide permission to use his sperm for conceiving a child.

These hurdles were finally removed when Senator Andrew Gounardes, with the help of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, stepped in and had the law amended to recognize the validity of a child's biological parents having conceived him or her through in vitro fertilisation, and in the end, Chen was able to claim Child Survivor Benefits for her daughter.

[24] [25] Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley (October 31, 1986 – December 20, 2014) had a long criminal record and was estranged from his family prior to the shooting.

[10] On the day of the attack, Brinsley had tried to commit suicide with his gun before killing the police officers, but he was talked out of it by his girlfriend, Shaneka Nicole Thompson, whom he then shot.

[31] Brinsley wrote on his Instagram account of his intentions to kill police as retribution for the recent deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

[33] U.S. President Barack Obama stated, "I unconditionally condemn today's murder of two police officers in New York City.

He tweeted, "Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of Eric Holder and Mayor de Blasio."

"[39] The president of the police union group Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, Patrick J. Lynch, blamed de Blasio and the protesters of the grand jury dismissal in the Garner case for inciting hostility toward the NYPD.

[46] Pastor Michael A. Walrond Jr. of the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, said, "This tragic moment may be an opportunity for people to understand each other.

[50] Bob McManus, a columnist for the New York Post, criticized government officials for failing to condemn the blood-lust of protesters who demanded "dead cops" in retaliation for the death of Eric Garner.

"—and that such a failure "contributed to a public climate of suspicion and hate against police in which a man like Ismaaiyl Brinsley can in his deranged mind think it is justified to stalk and execute two cops on the beat.

[62] In April 2016, officers Angelo Pampena and Robert Carbone were charged with the retaliatory beating of mail carrier Karim Baker, who unwittingly provided Brinsley with directions.