NYPD officer killed with gun stolen in Perry

A gun used to shoot and kill a New York City police officer was stolen from a Middle Georgia business in October 2011.

The gun, one of 23 stolen from Little’s Bait & Tackle & Pawn in Perry, was used in a Saturday shooting that led to the death of 25-year old Brian Moore on Monday.

Efforts to reach someone from the business late Monday were unsuccessful.

Perry Police Chief Steve Lynn said he had been out of the office on Monday and had not been fully informed about the burglary from four years ago.

“Obviously, we’ll pull the report and look at it,” he said.

Lynn noted that there is a “big market” for firearms in cities like New York, regardless of the means used to acquire them.

“There is a traffic ... in both legally purchased and stolen weapons,” he said.

Moore, the third New York City officer slain on duty in five months, was shot in the head and was in a coma after undergoing brain surgery following the Saturday evening shooting. He was pronounced dead at a Queens hospital with his family at his bedside, including his police officer father, uncle and cousin.

Hundreds of uniformed officers stood at attention outside the medical center and lined up down the block to salute the ambulance carrying his body out. Afterward many could be seen crying and consoling one another.

“He proved himself to be an exceptional young officer,” Police Commissioner William Bratton said, noting Moore had made more than 150 arrests in less than five years on the job and earned meritorious service medals.

Moore and his partner were in plainclothes and in an unmarked police car when they approached Demetrius Blackwell in a quiet Queens neighborhood after they saw him adjusting his waistband, a move that made them suspicious he had a handgun, authorities said.

The officers pulled up next to Blackwell, 35, and exchanged words before the man suddenly turned, pulled out a weapon and fired at least twice at them, striking Moore in the head and face, according to court documents.

Ten of the 23 weapons stolen in Perry have since been recovered -- nine of them in New York.

Blackwell has been charged with attempted murder and other crimes. He’s being held without bail and hasn’t entered a plea. His attorney has denied the charges.

He’ll be charged with first-degree murder, prosecutors said.

Investigators discovered the five-shot silver Taurus used in the shooting under a box near a backyard grill along the route Blackwell fled immediately following the shooting, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio mourned Moore’s death.

“He risked his life for a very simple notion -- to keep everyone else safe, to keep our society safe, to keep order,” the mayor said at an evening news conference. “This is what he wanted to do.”

Telegraph writer Jeremy Timmerman contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 4, 2015 at 9:01 PM.