Latest on NYPD funeral: Officer promoted posthumously
May 8, 2015, 2:30 PM
2:45 p.m.
Thousands of police officers from around the country lined the streets in Long Island, forming thick black walls as a hearse carried New York City Police Officer Brian Moore’s coffin from his funeral Mass to a cemetery on Friday.
The 25-year-old officer was honored for the bravery and compassion he showed before he was fatally shot on Saturday.
Nine helicopters from various police agencies flew over the church in Seaford, New York as the service ended. Two trumpeters blew “Taps.”
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton’s voice cracked as he promoted Moore posthumously to detective first grade.
Bratton said Moore “had an eye for the street” and “could smell a gun, as they say.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Moore “showed the courage and dedication he had always shown” and that he made “the ultimate sacrifice” while keeping the city safe.
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1:15 p.m.
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton has promoted a young officer after he was fatally shot on the job.
Bratton posthumously promoted Officer Brian Moore to detective first grade during his funeral on Long Island on Friday.
Bratton noted that Moore’s death comes amid debate over the role of police officers and controversy over deaths of civilians at the hands of police.
He said officers “are increasingly bearing the brunt of loud criticism.” He added, “We cannot be defined by that criticism.”
The 25-year-old Moore died Monday after being shot patrolling in Queens on Saturday.
Bratton also noted the shooting deaths of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu (WEHN’-jihn LOO’) in Brooklyn in December.
He said, “Once more, we find ourselves together in mourning. It is too soon, much too soon.”
Liu’s relatives were among the mourners at Moore’s funeral in Seaford, New York.
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12:50 p.m.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says a 25-year-old police officer shot to death on the job was “a young man, but a very great man.”
De Blasio says Officer Brian Moore represented the best of New York City and his bravery was matched by his compassion.
Moore’s father and uncle are retired police sergeants and three cousins are police officers in New York City or on Long Island, and Moore was eager to join them, taking the NYPD entrance exam at age 17.
The mayor said he “just couldn’t wait to be old enough to join the force.”
The mayor spoke Friday at Moore’s funeral at a Roman Catholic church on Long Island.
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12:15 p.m.
A police chaplain says a young New York City police officer who was shot to death on patrol had a vocation to be a hero.
Monsignor Robert Romano says Officer Brian Moore always ran into the trouble, not away from it.
Romano is officiating at a funeral Mass for the 25-year-old officer at a Roman Catholic church on Long Island.
The funeral in Seaford, New York is taking place under heavy security. A sniper stood on top of a police van as a hearse carried his body from a funeral home, and snipers watched from the roof of a nearby elementary school.
Authorities imposed a 3-mile no-fly zone overhead, and a Nassau County police helicopter was hovering.
The 25-year-old Moore died Monday, two days after he was shot in Queens. He and his partner were in an unmarked car and had stopped a man suspected of carrying a handgun when the suspect shot Moore in the head.
As many as 30,000 officers from across the country were expected to line the streets surrounding the church.
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Noon
Thousands of police officers from around the country have packed a church for the funeral of a young New York City police officer who was killed on patrol.
Fellow officers carried Officer Brian Moore’s coffin into the Long Island church, where the funeral Mass began Friday with hymns and readings. There was heavy security: A sniper stood on top of a police van as a hearse carried his body from a funeral home, and snipers watched from the roof of a nearby elementary school.
Authorities imposed a 3-mile no-fly zone overhead, and a Nassau County police helicopter was hovering.
The 25-year-old Moore died Monday, two days after he was shot in Queens. He and his partner were in an unmarked car and had stopped a man suspected of carrying a handgun when the suspect shot Moore in the head.
As many as 30,000 officers from across the country were expected at the funeral in Seaford.
Mourners also included New York’s top elected representatives and relatives of Officer Wenjian Liu (WEHN’-jihn LOO’), one of two New York City officers killed in an ambush in December.
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