Mayor Bill de Blasio expressed his condolences to the family of two murdered NYPD officers while asking the public to put aside protests and political demonstrations during a period of grief. "It was an attack on our democracy, our values, and an attack on every New Yorker, and we have to see it as such," de Blasio said at a police charity event on Monday. De Blasio urged the public to stand by the families of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, both fatally shot execution-style on Saturday in Brooklyn by gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley. "We all see the world through the prism of our own families," he said. "It’s time for people to take stock of this moment."
The mayor did little to address burgeoning criticism from politicians and NYPD officers accusing him of not supporting police, but did ask that protests be put on hold.
"It’s a time to step back and just focus on these families," he said. "I think it’s a time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in due time. In the coming days, as two families prepare for funerals and figure out how to piece their lives back together, that should be our only concern: How do we support them?"
