This is to me a big WTF-moment.
The Baltimore County Police sent a FAX to the NYPD about the threat that Ismaaiyl Brinsley posed. Are you kidding me? They sent a fax.
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We're in the middle of holiday preparations and I have little time to hash out this post. Since I have not seen this blogged here, I simply want to call your attention to an article in the Daily Mail which provides reporting way beyond what I see in the local media here in NYC. In particular I suggest that you look at the time line that the Daily Mail provided - towards the end of the article.
5.30am
Enters apartment of ex-girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in Owings Mills, Maryland with a key he should not have had. They argue.
5.50am
Brinsley fires a single shot at Thompson, reportedly into her stomach. He flees with her cell phone.
6.05am
Brinsley calls Thompson's mother to apologize for shooting her. He claims it is an accident, and that he hopes she lives.
6.35am
Baltimore County Police begins monitoring him. They track Thompson's cellphone to the I-95 freeway, where he is believed to have been riding a bus. During the journey he keeps phoning Thompson's mom, and reveals he is headed to New York City.
10.50am
Brinsley arrives in New York City, in the West Side, and rides the subway to Brooklyn.
12.07pm
He throws away Thompson's phone in the Barclays Center. The NYPD later recovered it. Investigators are unclear where he goes between midday and the killings at 2.47pm.
1.30pm
Baltimore County Police send the NYPD a fax alerting them to Brinsley and his intentions. By the time it filters down to the rank-and-file, he has already struck.
2.47pm
Brinsley identifies his targets in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, tells passersby to watch, then fires four shots at them.
So, the BCP begins monitoring Brinsley at 6.35 am and realizes he is moving towards NYC. They must have become aware of his threats on Instagram early on, yet don't bother to call their colleagues in NY as a matter of priority. Instead, they send a fax at 1.30 pm - way to late to ensure that police units in NYC take protective action.
They then discovered that he had made shocking threats on Instagram that he would 'put wings on pigs'.
Tragically the message arrived too late. It only reached the NYPD just as Brinsley was about to murder the officers execution-style.
Rank failure in police work is what it looks like. And why is it that I have to pick up this from a publication in the UK? I have NY1 droning on in the background most of the day. Not a mention of it, as far as I am aware.