(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio continued efforts Tuesday to heal the rift between his office and the NYPD by holding a moment of silence at City Hall for Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were shot to death by a lone gunman last weekend as they sat in their patrol car.
Earlier, de Blasio and his wife visited the makeshift memorial near the spot in Brooklyn where the two cops were gunned down. Their assailant, a former New York City resident with a long rap sheet, shot himself to death before he could be taken into custody by police.
Again calling for protests against the NYPD to be suspended until after Liu and Ramos are buried, the mayor said that New York would not “be the kind of city it was meant to be, if there’s a division between the police and our community.”
De Blasio said that everyone should honor the memories of Liu and Ramos for dedicating their lives to protecting New Yorkers from criminals, adding that, “Every police officer is hurting right now, and the family of every police officer is hurting right now. And we have to be there for them.”
The mayor’s relationship with the NYPD became strained after demonstrators took to the streets earlier this month when a grand jury did not indict a white cop accused of using a chokehold to take down a black street vendor, who died at the scene of the incident in Staten Island.
Many within the department feel that the mayor went out of his way to side with the protesters, while the head of the police union accused de Blasio of perpetuating the situation that led to the shooting deaths of Liu and Ramos.
In addition, the mayor’s pleas for a temporary moratorium on marches fell on deaf ears as hundreds took the streets of Manhattan Tuesday to protest alleged police brutality. Even though some demonstrators appeared to taunt cops, no arrests were made.
Meanwhile, the White House announced that Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, would attend the funeral for Officer Ramos at the request of President Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii.
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