Brooklyn shooting: Two NYPD officers shot dead inside patrol car

An armed opened fire and shot dead two police officers sitting inside a patrol car in New York City before killing himself.

Two New York City police officers have died after being shot inside a patrol car Saturday afternoon, according to police. Authorities say the gunman then killed himself.

The shooting took place in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Both officers were rushed to Woodhull hospital, where one was pronounced dead, police said. The second officer was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police say the suspect fatally shot himself inside a subway station. His motive wasn’t immediately clear.

The shooting comes at a tense time. Police in New York are being criticized for their tactics following the chokehold death of Eric Garner, who was stopped by police on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.

Demonstrators around the country have staged die-ins and other protests since a grand jury decided December 3 not to indict the officer in Eric Garner’s death, a decision that closely followed a Missouri grand jury’s refusal to indict a white officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old.