Let me at him
MINUTES AFTER a career criminal was convicted of fatally shooting an NYPD cop, the officer’s father declared that he’d like to personally execute his son’s killer.
Retired NYPD Sgt. Raymond Moore said he wished he could do the same thing to Demetrius Blackwell, 37, that the ex-con did to his son, 25-year-old Brian Moore.
“I’d like to walk up to him, tell him, ‘Yeah I got something for you,’ and put two bullets in his head,” Moore said outside Queens Criminal Court on Thursday.
“That’s from an ex-sergeant in the NYPD.”
Dozens of cops were in the courtroom when Blackwell was found guilty of first-degree murder in the cold-blooded killing of the decorated Queens officer in May 2015.
Blackwell now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he’s sentenced on Dec. 12.
“At the end of the day, there was justice done for Brian’s killing, but it is a hole and it is a void that will never ever be filled,” said the slain officer’s mother, Irene Moore.
Prosecutors portrayed Blackwell as a calculated killer whose DNA was found on a bullet cartridge in the silver revolver used in the shooting.
His defense lawyer argued that cops arrested the wrong man and that he was so mentally deranged he could not be held responsible for murder.
Prosecutors said Moore was gunned down during a split-second street stop in Queens Village.
Moore and his partner, Officer Erik Jensen, were on patrol in an unmarked police car when they spotted Blackwell on 212th St. near 104th Ave.
The man immediately walked off in the opposite direction and appeared to adjust something on his waist, prosecutors said. Moore pulled up alongside Blackwell. “Police,” Moore said, according to prosecutors. “You got something?” “Yeah, I got something,” Blackwell replied, according to prosecutors. He whipped out his revolver and opened fire, striking Moore twice in the head. Blackwell, whose string of arrests include an attempted murder that landed him in prison, was collared 90 minutes after the shooting. Moore died two days later. “When he went out to work that day, for him it was like any other day that he went out to work,” Irene Moore said of her son after the verdict. “He didn’t know that was going to be the last day for him. None of us knew.” In addition to first-degree murder, Blackwell was found guilty of attempted murder for shooting at Moore’s partner who escaped unharmed.
The jurors deliberated for roughly seven hours following the three-week trial.
“There’s no question. Based on the callous nature of the defendant, his actions ask for life without the possibility of parole,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, applauded the jurors.
“We want to thank many people but especially the jurors who came to a just and right decision,” the police union leader said.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill paid tribute to Moore, who was posthumously promoted to detective.
“The murder of Detective Brian Moore reminds us of the extraordinary danger police officers face every day, protecting this city,” he said.
“Brian chose this profession to protect others, to do good, and to serve a cause greater than himself. He was murdered doing his job and in defense of every New Yorker.”