(News In Photos) Gunman With Possible Revenge In Mind Kills Two NYC Police Officers & Himself

(Reuters) - A gunman ambushed and fatally shot two New York City police officers on Saturday and then killed himself, police said, and a social media post indicated it may have been in revenge for the police choke hold death of an unarmed black man.

If the killings do turn out to have been motivated by the death of Eric Garner, they could inflame tension over race and law enforcement that have dogged New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, sparked protests around the country and drawn in President Barack Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder.

The officers were killed without warning and at close range as they sat in their squad car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Police Commissioner William Bratton told a news conference, flanked by de Blasio.

see more detail photos after the cut....

 Police officers block off the scene of a a shooting incident where a gunman killed two New York police officers as they sat in their squad car before turning his weapon on himself in New York December 20, 2014. 

 Police block off the scene of a shooting where a gunman killed two New York police officers as they sat in their squad car before killing himself in New York, in this December 20, 2014 

A man holds his hands up and yells "Hands Up Don't Shoot" at the scene of a shooting where two New York Police officers were shot dead in the Brooklyn borough of New York, December 20, 2014. 

Policemen are pictured at the scene of a shooting where two New York Police officers were shot dead in the Brooklyn borough of New York, December 20, 2014.

A policeman stands guard at the scene of a shooting where two New York Police officers were shot dead in the Brooklyn borough of New York, December 20, 2014.

An Emergency Service Unit policeman is pictured at the scene of a shooting where two New York Police officers were shot dead in the Brooklyn borough of New York, December 20, 2014

Police block off the scene of a shooting where a gunman killed two New York police officers as they sat in their squad car before killing himself in New York, in this December 20, 

 Forensic officers examine the scene of a shooting where two New York Police officers were shot dead in the Brooklyn borough of New York, December 20, 2014.

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