Queens plans prayer vigils for NYPD officers slain in Brooklyn

Events at precincts in LIC, Ridgewood, Forest Hills
December 22, 2014
Peter C. Mastrosimone / Editor-in-Chief
Queens Chronicle

Queens officials, clergy and community leaders have organized three events to honor the two police officers assassinated Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn by a career criminal out to avenge the deaths of two black men at the hands of cops this summer.

The officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were shot as they sat in their patrol car outside a housing complex in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Their assassin was a black man who had said on social media that he was going to kill two cops in revenge for the deaths of Staten Island scofflaw Eric Garner, who went into cardiac arrest after being physically taken down by police as he resisted arrest, and Michael Brown, who was shot multiple times by a cop in Ferguson, Mo. after allegedly committing a strong-arm robbery at a convenience store and being confronted for jaywalking. 

Grand jury decisions not to press charges in either case have led to protests in cities across the nation and some calls for violence against police, as well as some attacks on officers and destruction of squad cars, including here in New York. Rally organizers such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and Communities United for Police Reform were quick to say the assassinations should not be linked to the protest movement.

Two of the Queens vigils remembering Liu and Ramos will be held tonight, Dec. 22, and one tomorrow. 

The first one today will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the 108th Precinct, located at 5-47 50 Ave. in Long Island City.

“We will gather together in prayer tonight with faith leaders in front of the 108th Precinct in Long Island City at 6:30 to pray for the fallen NYPD officers Liu & Ramos & their families,” reads an announcement issued by City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside).

The second one will be held at 7 p.m. at the 104th Precinct, located at 64-02 Catalpa Ave. in Ridgewood.

“Please join with our community,” an announcement from the 104th Precinct Community Council reads. “In memory of New York City Police Department officers, Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32 and in solidarity with NYC's Finest.”

Tomorrow’s event will be held at 6 p.m. at the 112th Precinct, located at 68-40 Austin St., at the corner of Yellowstone Boulevard in Forest Hills. 

“Please join the 112th Precinct Community Council for prayers for the NYPD officers lost and to show support for our 112th precinct officers,” reads the event announcement.

Some Queens elected officials put out statements over the weekend decrying the officers’ killings. Borough President Melinda Katz issued one that said: 

“My thoughts and prayers are with the families of two of NYPD’s Finest, Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were murdered today on our streets. Our officers deserve respect for their devotion and the dangers they face day-in and day-out in the mission to protect our city. Such abhorrent acts have no place in our society and are to be fully condemned in every sense of the word. As one city, we deeply mourn the senseless loss of these heroic officers who were tragically slain today. I echo the urging by the Mayor and the Police Commissioner for the public to bring forward any information you may have.”

In addition to the vigils, a pro-police rally is planned for noon on Jan. 13 at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens. That event, organized by retired NYPD Capt. Joe Concannon, a Queens resident who ran for public office in 2012 and 2013, was planned prior to Saturday’s killings in Brooklyn.