Former New York Gov. George Pataki slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio and Attorney General Eric Holder for Saturday’s ambush shooting of two uniformed police officers by a man who later killed himself after authorities closed in on him.
“Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of” Holder and de Blasio, the Republican said on Twitter.
Pataki is considering a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.
Officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, were gunned down shortly before 3 p.m. while sitting in their marked police car in Brooklyn by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28.
The approached them and fired through the passenger-side window. Brinsley struck both officers in the head. They died at Woodhull Hospital.
Brinsley killed himself a short time later on a nearby subway platform as he was chased by police. He had shot his ex-girlfriend earlier Saturday in her apartment in suburban Baltimore, New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton said.