NY police commissioner seeks murder indictment in plainclothes cop killing

NEW YORK — A grand jury will be asked to return a first-degree murder indictment against the accused killer of a New York City plainclothes police officer, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said on Monday.

Officer Brian Moore, 25, was shot in the head over the weekend while in an unmarked car in pursuit of the suspect, who was wanted on a weapons charge, police said. The suspect, Demetrius Blackwell, 35, of Queens, is in custody on an attempted murder charge, police said.

Moore died on Monday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

NEW YORK — A New York City plainclothes police officer shot in the head over the weekend has died of his wounds, local media reported.

Officer Brian Moore, 25, was shot on Saturday as he and his partner, sitting in an unmarked car in a residential neighborhood of Queens, were trying to question a local man wanted for illegal gun possession.

Moore was the fifth city officer shot in five months, police said.

The officers tried to question Demetrius Blackwell, 35, who has an extensive criminal background, after they saw him seeming to adjust an object in his waistband, police said at a weekend news conference.

Blackwell pulled out a gun and fired several times into the vehicle, police said.

Blackwell was arrested and charged on Sunday with first-degree attempted murder, assault and other charges. He was ordered held without bail.

The New York Police Department, responding to telephone and emails requests, would not confirm Moore’s death, which was reported by NY1 Television, the Daily News newspaper and other local media.

The city’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the municipal police union, said on its website that it canceled a march in support of Moore scheduled for Wednesday and instead asked members to pray for him.

The shooting took place five months after the fatal ambush of two uniformed city police officers in Brooklyn in December.

The gunman in that case said he wanted to avenge the deaths of black men killed in confrontations with white officers. Police said there was no indication Blackwell expressed a similar intention.

Police said Blackwell was wanted on outstanding charges, including grand larceny, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing.