– Sharpton condemns –
“They Take 1 of Ours Let’s Take 2 of Theirs,” read a comment seemingly written by Brinsley next to a photo of a silver handgun, referencing the police killings of unarmed blacks.
In July, Eric Garner, an unarmed father of six, died after police held him in a chokehold while he was being arrested for selling individual cigarettes illegally in New York.
Michael Brown, an 18 year old in the Ferguson suburb of St Louis, Missouri, was shot dead by a police officer in August, sparking months of protests.
Grand jury decisions not to indict either white officer responsible triggered mass protests in New York and other US cities.
The Brown family swiftly condemned the latest killings as “senseless.”
“We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement. It cannot be tolerated. We must work together to bring peace to our communities,” they said in a statement.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who has used the deaths of Garner and Brown to campaign for sweeping police reform, also said he was outraged.
But the head of a New York police association blamed city officials for not going far enough to stop those who incited violence during protests against police.
“That blood on their hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch said about Saturday’s shootings.
Widespread dissatisfaction in relations between police and blacks have been inflamed not just by the Brown and Garner deaths.
Last month, a rookie police officer fatally shot Akai Gurley, an unarmed 28 year old black man, in the stairwell of a Brooklyn apartment building.
A 12 year old black boy holding a toy gun was also shot dead by police officers in a playground in Ohio in November.
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