Killing of Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu

On December 20, 2014, NYPD officers Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32, were shot and killed while sitting in their patrol car at the intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley, identified by police as the gunman, approached the passenger-side window of the vehicle and fired a semiautomatic handgun four times, striking both officers in the head and upper body and killing them instantly. Both officers, along with Brinsley, were later pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital.

Earlier that same day, at approximately 5:50 a.m., Brinsley had shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend, 29-year-old Shaneka Thompson, in Owings Mills, Maryland, before fleeing the scene. He then traveled by bus to Manhattan, and around 12:20 p.m. used Thompson's phone to post threats on social media stating his intent to kill police officers in retribution for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Baltimore County Police alerted the NYPD's 70th Precinct about the threats, but a bulletin describing Brinsley was received only after the shooting had already occurred. After the shooting, responding officers pursued Brinsley into the New York City Subway, where he fatally shot himself at the Myrtle–Willoughby Avenues station.

The killings occurred amid nationwide protests following grand jury decisions not to indict the officers involved in the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Brinsley's attack was reported to have been motivated by outrage over these cases.

Rafael Ramos, a married father of two from Glendale, Queens, had joined the NYPD as a school safety agent before being promoted to officer in 2012 and was active in his church. Wenjian Liu, a seven-year NYPD veteran who had married Peixia Chen two months earlier, was the only son of Chinese immigrants. A joint funeral for both officers was held on December 27, 2014, drawing more than 100,000 attendees, including Vice President Joe Biden; some officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio during his eulogy. Liu's semen was preserved posthumously at his widow's request, and she later gave birth to their daughter via artificial insemination in 2017.

The shootings drew wide public reaction, including statements from President Barack Obama condemning the killings and statements from police union officials blaming political leaders and protesters for contributing to an atmosphere of hostility toward police. In the aftermath, six people were arrested for making terrorist threats against NYPD officers, and a police union directive led to changes in patrol procedures. In a related but separate 2015 incident, NYPD officers Angelo Pampena and Robert Carbone were charged with assaulting Karim Baker, a mail carrier who had unknowingly given Brinsley directions before the shooting; the officers were acquitted in 2017, though Baker's civil lawsuit was later settled for $1.5 million.

Streets in the officers' home neighborhoods were co-named in their honor in 2015, and schools were later renamed for each officer in 2024.