Queens Cop Killer Gets Life In Prison Without Parole

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS -- A Queens man will spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole for the 2015 slaying of a New York City police officer.

A crowd of police officers and their supporters swarmed Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday to watch as convicted cop killer Demetrius Blackwell, 37, was handed down the maximum sentence of life without parole for the murder of NYPD officer Brian Moore and the attempted killing of his colleague Erik Jansen.

In November, a jury found Blackwell guilty of first-degree murder for firing two fatal bullets into 25-year-old Moore's head. The Queens Village resident was also convicted of first-degree attempted murder for aiming another bullet at Jansen, then 30, which instead struck a nearby house, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

“While today’s sentencing cannot heal the prolonged pain endured by Officer Brian Moore’s family, friends and colleagues for their needless loss, or erase the emotional wounds suffered by Officer Erik Jansen and his family, I hope, however, that it will bring some degree of closure and comfort to those individuals whose lives were forever changed on that horrific day," Brown said.

According to testimony from the three-week jury trial, NYPD Precinct 105 officers Moore and Jansen were driving along 104th Road in Jamaica on May 2, 2015, when they spotted Blackwell adjusting something in his waistband at around 6:15 p.m.

The two pulled up next to Blackwell in an unmarked police car, identified themselves as police and asked Moore if he had something on him. Blackwell responded, "Yeah, I got something" before pulling an unlicensed five-shot revolver from his waistband and opened fire on the officers, according to trial testimony.

Moore died two days after the shooting.

“It goes without question that the defendant’s actions were a direct attack on our society and the law and soberly reminds us of the unseen dangers that our police officers face each day," Brown said.

Blackwell fled the scene and pitch his gun at a nearby house, where he also stole a T-shirt and sneakers in an attempt to alter his appearance, according to the charges. Cops found cocaine and marijuana on Blackwell when he was arrested just hours after the shooting. Police found the gun two days later. The DNA found on it and the unfired bullets inside matched that of Blackwell's, the charges stated.

A jury deliberated for two hours before finding Blackwell guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He received two consecutive sentences of life without parole.

Lead image by Elis Kaplan/New York Post for Associated Press.

Caption: Demetrius Blackwell appears in Queens criminal court on Thursday, June 11, 2015, in New York.