Philadelphia police react to NYC shootings

Sunday, December 21, 2014
VIDEO: Philadelphia police react to NYC shootings
Philadelphia Police are even more on alert after the ambush killings of two New York City Police officers.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia Police are even more on alert after the ambush killings of two New York City Police officers.

The tensions and the rhetoric have been increasing for months with protests like the one King of Prussia Mall Saturday.

Demonstrators upset over the deaths of Eric Garner on Staten Island and Ferguson teen Michael Brown at the hands of police.

The shootings of NYPD officers Wenjin Liu and Raphael Ramos now have investigators scouring over anti-police statements allegedly made on social media by the suspect Ismaaiyl Brinsley.

One displayed a weapon with the hashtags "shoot the police" and references to Garner and Brown.

New York City police Commissioner William Braxton said, "Let's face it...there's been, not just in NY, but throughout the country, there's been a strong anti-police, anti-criminal justice system, one of the unfortunate aspect sometimes is some people get caught up in these and go in directions they should not."

Philadelphia Police released a statement Saturday: "This is a horrible act of terror and intentionally murdering a police officer is not the way to solve anything, in fact it destroyed the lives of two families (those of these officers) that had absolutely nothing to do with the events taking place across this country."

Sentiments echoed by community activists in New York who denounced what they called a tragic act of stupidity.

"They're not representative of those who are actually peaceful protesting with regards with the issues they have with police brutality. What we are seeing at this point and time is this is unacceptable behavior of anybody to go and shoot innocent police officers," said community activist, Tony Herbert.

There is a notion that police are always monitoring social media threats, but New York mayor and Philadelphia police say that is not always the case. If you see something, say something and report it.