grieving for the dead officers' families. despite the anti-cop tirade on social media, they say this stemmed from emotional problems, not political issues. >> we give our condolences to the families. >> we are very sorry. >> this has nothing to do with police retaliation. this was a troubled, emotionally troubled kid. he needed help. he didn't get it. if he got arrested this many times, why didn't they help him out? they kept releasing him to the streets. isn't that a problem that is a justice system should be asking? >> brinsley's family says he leaves behind two children. in milwaukee, more protests against police violence after the district attorney decided not to charge a white police officer in the death of a mentally ill black man. the federal government now looking into the case.
had this. and now two new york city police officers assassinated while just doing their job. tonight, on the record is coming to you live in the memorialish, where there are more than 20,000 names of officers who have lost their lives, on this wall. we begin with a look at how saturday's horrific and ugly murders unfolded. from brooklyn. >> it was on this corner that officer ramos and officer liu sat in a marked new york police car was assassinated. >> officers killed by ismaaiyl brinsley a krazed gunman on mission to kill cops.
troubled kid. he needed help. he didn't get it. if he got arrested this many times, why won't they give him help? they kept releasing him into the streets. isn't that a problem which is a justice system problem and they should be asking? not us. >> brinsley leaves behind two children. in milwaukee, more protests against police violence after the district attorney there decides not to charge a white police officer in the death of a mentally ill black man. the federal government is now looking into the case and our national correspondent george howell is there with more. >> reporter: a group of protesters gathered in downtown milwaukee. i want to show you the group at red arrow park. all this in response not to charge a police officer for fatally shooting a mentally ill man more than a dozen times. this happened back in april when
sacred. last night, with tears streaming down their faces, the family of officer liu spoke. the most powerful words coming from his wife of just two months. >> this is a difficult time for both of our families. but we will stand together and get through this together. >> among those officers condolences, the family of the gunman, ismaaiyl brinsley, who later took his own life, ismaaiyl brinsley says it was a result of untreated mental illnesses. >> we give our condolences to the families. this has nothing to do with police retaliation. this was a troubled -- emotionally troubled kid. he needed help. he didn't get it. >> reporter: also drawn to the street memorial, the daughter of eric garner. the death of her father in the hands of new york police helped
police retaliation. this was a troubled emotionally troubled kid. he needed help. he didn't get it. >> also drawn to the street memorial, the daughter of eric garner. the death of her father at the hands of new york police helped spark that you can protests against the nypd which some say triggered brinsley's attack. garner's daughter said she knows what officers' families are going through. >> we're not anti-police. we just want to let everybody know that we support them and we're out here to lay a breath and flight candles and do a moment of silence. >> reporter: and once again, silence became the loudest tribute. and again, those tributes continue to come in here. it seems many people simply either want to look at what has been put down, the candles, the notes, the gifts, or they want to reflect on what's happened and maybe where their city is headed next. >> a somber situation over
those officers in cold blood. investigators say this brand new surveillance video shows the shooter, ismaaiyl brinsley, about three hours before he unleashed his deadly rampage at a mall in brooklyn. they think that the gun he used was actually inside that white bag that he's carrying. our alexandra field joins me from brooklyn. so the family of the shooter is telling us more about him. what more are we learning and does it make a difference to what's happening now? >> i think people want to know. i think people have questions, i think in these cases you don't often get answers that will satisfy you, but there is some explanation coming from the family, ashleigh. ismaaiyl brinsley's mother made a statement to local media talking about how troubled her son was. she said his life was out of control, that he was in a downward spiral. she said she had become estranged from her son. he was estranged from the family, she'd had very little
>> can her voice lull you to sleep or cure depression? listen for yourself on this tuesday, december 23rd. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." >> a good morning on this tuesday. i'm tai hernandez. >> i'm t.j. holmes. we start with the mayor of new york city calling for protests to be put aside for now as the two murdered police officers are mourned. >> the widow of one of the officers has spoken to reporters and his parents have issued a statement from china. here's abc's tom llamas. >> reporter: two days after wenjian liu and rafael ramos were shot execution-style while sitting in their patrol car, investigators are piecing together the movements of their attacker. ismaaiyl brinsley, a troubled 28-year-old with a long history of prior arrests who ultimately took his own life as s.w.a.t. teams chased him to a nearby subway station. nypd releasing this video from a brooklyn mall showing him
troubled kid. he needed help. he didn't get it. if he got arrested this many times, that was a question. they kept releasing him into the streets. so isn't that a problem that's a justice system should be asking? not us. >> brinsley's family says he leaves behind two children. an infant and 5-year-old. in milwaukee, more protests after the district attorney there decides not to charge a white police officer in the deaths of a mentally ill black man. the federal government now looking into the case. our national correspondent george howell has more. >> reporter: a group of protesters has gathered here at red arrow park in response to the prosecutor's decision not to charge a police officer for fatally shooting a mentally ill man more than a dozen times. this happened in april. when officer chris manny, shot a
phone them say that video suggested brinsley was a spectator at that protest. and police then released this surveillance video of brinsley walking through a shopping mall on the day he executed those police. the police are telling us that they believe that that white object in his hands, which they scribble as sort of a styrofoam container, they think could have held the gun them believe it held the gun that he used to execute the police officers. they are asking that anybody who may have seen brinsley on saturday will come forward as they try to piece together the two and a half hours prior to the executions. nick valencia is out front. you've been digging into ismaaiyl brinsley's life. >> his life was full of failure, broken relationships and plenty of run-ins with police. he did not make it past tenth grade at the new jersey high school. it was over the course of ten severe that he was arrested at least 19 time from here and
self-despair but also anti-government. >> reporter: his attack has been called revenge for the recent high-profile deaths of two unarmed civilians but on monday new york's mayor said that the killings weren't just an attack on police but an attack on us all. nick valencia, cnn, atlanta. >> and ismaaiyl brinsley's family is speaking out for the first time since the killings. his sister says he was not seeking revenge. she says that he was mentally ill and needed help that he never received. >> this has nothing to do with police retaliation. this was a troubled emotionally troubled kid. he needed help. he didn't get it. i feel so bad for the family. you know, we give our condolences to the family. >> we are grieving, and we're very sorry for what happened for the innocent cops that were there. >> now, new york's mayor bill de blasio says the families of the murdered police officers and now