Thousands of police officers from across the country are in New York today to pay respects to Wenjian Liu, one of two patrolmen who were gunned down last month in an unprovoked attack in a Brooklyn neighborhood.
The line for Liu's wake on Saturday stretched for blocks, despite a cold rain. The officer's partner, Rafael Ramos, was laid to rest last week. His funeral also drew thousands.
The two were killed on Dec. 20 by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who approached their patrol car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, firing several shots into their vehicle. The assailant later killed himself. Social media posts by Brinsley, who is black, suggest that the shooting was a revenge attack for the deaths of two or more black men at the hands of police.
The Associated Press says: "Buddhist monks will lead a Chinese ceremony for Officer Wenjian Liu, followed by a traditional police ceremony with eulogies led by a chaplain. Liu, 32, had served as a policeman for seven years and was married just two months when he was killed."
Mayor Bill de Blasio and FBI Director James Coomey are among those scheduled to speak at the funeral.
Many will be watching for the reaction from rank-and-file officers attending the ceremony after many turned their backs on the mayor at last week's funeral for Ramos.
As the mayor spoke last week, officers watching on a giant screen outside the church turned their backs in a gesture of disrespect for the mayor. Some officers had done the same thing when De Blasio arrived at the hospital where the slain officers had been brought on the day of the shooting.
As we reported at the time, the incident "has laid bare a rift between the mayor and the NYPD. Shortly after [the Dec. 20] attack, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's president, Pat Lynch, accused the mayor of having "blood on his hands" for what is perceived as a lack of support for the department amid protests against police violence.
As the AP notes: "Many people, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan, have since pressed all parties to tone down the rhetoric. And this weekend, Police Commissioner William Bratton sent a memo to all commands urging respect, declaring 'a hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance.'"
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