A New York City police officer died Monday from injuries sustained when a man shot him in the face on Saturday.
Brian Moore, 25, died after two days in the hospital, according to the New York Daily News. He was sitting in an unmarked car Saturday when police say he was shot by Demetrius Blackwell, 35, of Queens. Blackwell was arrested Sunday.
Moore was characterized as a hero by fellow officers. He leaves behind a father, an uncle and cousins who have served as officers, and has been with the New York Police Department since July 2010. Yahoo News reports:
His listed address is a small, well-kept house in the Long Island hamlet of Massapequa -- a tight-knit community where neighbors have known each other well for decades. Many families have relatives who are police officers.
Neighbors had only kind words for Moore, some saying they shed tears after hearing he was shot.
Blackwell, who may now be facing a murder charge, allegedly shot at Moore and another officer as they sat in an unmarked vehicle. The officers reportedly saw Blackwell adjust something in his waistband and questioned him.
“Do you have something in your waist?" Moore asked Blackwell, according to the New York Post.
“Yeah, I got something,” Blackwell, who has an extensive criminal record, said.
He then allegedly opened fire, hitting Moore in the face, Reuters reports. Moore's patrol partner, 30-year-old Erik Jansen, wasn't injured and radioed for help.
Moore was taken off life support at 11:15 a.m. Monday, CBS News reports.
"This was nothing more and nothing less than a cold-blooded attempt at an assassination of New York's finest," Assistant District Attorney Peter McCormack told The Associated Press.
Blackwell was initially charged on Sunday with two counts of first-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault on a police officer, as well as first-degree assault and weapon possession. His court-appointed lawyer, David Bart, denies the charges and has said the suspect "has no particular animus toward police officers."
On the other hand, Blackwell reportedly told a detective that he's a "hellraiser on the street."
Blackwell, a cousin of former Giants cornerback Kory Blackwell, went to prison on an attempted murder conviction after firing into a car in July 2000 following a robbery. He was released from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora in June 2008.
Blackwell was also wanted by authorities on a criminal mischief charge stemming from an incident last November in which he threw bricks at the windows of a house while toting a gun, police said.
The shooting comes four months after two NYPD officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were gunned down as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn. The suspect in that shooting, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had said he shot the officers in retaliation for recent deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers.