Charity That Helped Families Of NYPD Officers Ramos, Liu Hopes To Aid Dallas Officers' Families
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The massacre in Dallas that left five police officers dead and seven more injured Thursday night brought to mind the shooting that killed two NYPD officers in December 2014.
As WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported, a 9/11-related charity helped the families of slain officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. The charity now wants to do the same for the Dallas officers' families.
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The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation stepped up to raise $1.2 million for financial support for Liu and Ramos' families after the officers were killed on Dec. 20, 2014.
"We were able to raise enough money to not only pay off the mortgages on their homes, but also to pay for the renovation on their homes," said Tunnel to Towers chief operating officer John Hodge.
Hodge now says the organization wants to help the families of the five officers killed in Dallas.
"We are working our way through exactly what we're going to do as a foundation right now," he said.
Hodge hopes the aid will provide some peace of mind.
Liu and Ramos were shot at point-blank range through their cruiser window. The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, then killed himself with the same weapon. He had posted on Instagram that he wanted to put "wings on pigs" and referenced Eric Garner, whose police chokehold death led to protests against the NYPD.
Police said Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, opened fire on officers in Dallas during a protest against police violence on Thursday night. Dallas Police Chief David Brown reported that Johnson said he was upset over recent police shootings of black men and wanted to kill white people.
Johnson was later killed during a standoff with police in a downtown Dallas parking garage.
