Dramatic Footage Shows NYPD Searching Subway Station for Brooklyn Shooting Suspect

Ismaaiyl Brinsley approached a police car Saturday afternoon at a Brooklyn intersection and opened fire on the two officers inside, killing them both in what New York mayor Bill de Blasio called an "execution-style" shooting.

Immediately after the shooting, Brinsley, 28, went underground — into a Bedford-Stuyvesant subway station — and killed himself on the subway platform.

A video of the subterranean events has surfaced that shows New York police officers combing the subway station and telling people to stay on the ground while they conduct the search. As officers run into the station, the man recording the video says "Yo this is crazy. Y'all seeing this?" Later in the video, a female is heard crying and the man tries to comfort her.

Another video appears to show police explaining their operations to people sitting in the stairwell of the Brooklyn station.

Brinsley's violent streak started in the Baltimore area, where he shot an ex-girlfriend in the stomach early Saturday morning, according to a statement made by New York police commissioner Bill Bratton at Woodhull Medical Center, where the wounded officers were taken after the attack. Brinsley then set off for New York and allegedly posted several anti-police messages on the woman's Instagram account.

Once Baltimore police were able to determine what happened, they warned New York police about Brinsley, but it wasn't enough to prevent him from killing the two officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. Just before 3pm on Saturday, Brinsley approached the two officers in their squad car and opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun.

This wasn't Brinsley's first weapons-related incident. In 2011, he was convicted of felony gun possession in Georgia and sentenced to two years in prison. It hasn't been determined when he was released from prison. He also was arrested in 2009 in Ohio on robbery charges. The Palm Beach Post reported that Brinsley had warrants out for his arrest in Cobb County, Georgia. A website that features Georgia mugshots shows his photo from a 2007 arrest. The site states he was arrested for criminal trespass.

Brinsley's last known address was in Atlanta, but he was born in New York and has associations with the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Despite the anti-police messages posted to Instagram — which seemed to suggest Brinsley sought revenge for the recent police killings of unarmed black men in New York and Ferguson, Missouri — Bratton said that Brinsley's motive in the killing was unclear.

Bigger image linking the — Michael Rusch (@weeddude)December 20, 2014

Bratton also asked New Yorkers to keep an eye out for similar anti-police sentiment and report it to the authorities. Rumors about Brinsley proliferated after the  shooting, but police are still working to establish facts about the man.

A federal law enforcement official tells me NYPD shooter has no known Black Guerrila Family affiliation, contrary to some NY reports..

— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton)December 21, 2014

Some early reports suggested Brinsley was a member of the Black Guerilla Family gang in Baltimore, but those allegations were apparently unfounded.

Follow Payton Guion on Twitter: @PaytonGuion

Photo via Flickr