The man who fatally shot two Syracuse law-enforcement officers over the weekend has been identified as Christopher R. Murphy, officials said Monday.
Murphy, a 33-year-old local from Salina, also was killed in the shootout.
He was identified by the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, Syracuse.com reported.
Murphy got into an exchange of gunfire with an officer from the Syracuse Police Department and a deputy with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office outside a house in Salina, a suburb of Syracuse, just before 9 p.m.
The officers had followed him to the residence after he refused to pull over during a traffic stop around 7 p.m. in the city’s Tipp Hill neighborhood.
Officers were trailing Murphy on reports that the vehicle was stolen, according to the outlet.
The Syracuse cops had called in backup from the sheriff’s office after learning the driver of the vehicle might be armed.
The officers used Murphy’s license plate number to trail him back to the home in the community of Liverpool, which is in Salina.
They saw what appeared to be guns in the vehicle also heard noises that sounded like a person was “manipulating a firearm” inside the home, Syracuse Police Chief Joseph Cecile said Sunday.
Murphy and the officers became involved in an exchange of gunfire, during which both officers and the suspect were hit.
All three were pronounced dead at the hospital from their injuries.
Murphy was previously charged in 2014 with driving while intoxicated by the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, the publication reported. He was also charged with resisting arrest and failure to keep right.
Authorities secured the house Sunday and said there was no further threat to the community.The two slain officers have not been publicly identified. However, the Syracuse cop had about three years on the job and was known for being “very active” and “very proactive,” according to Cecile.
The deputy was a “seasoned” law enforcement officer who was “very well-liked in his community,” Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley said.
Hundreds of officers watched and saluted as the bodies of the slain officer and deputy were driven away from Upstate Medical University Hospital, according to footage posted on social media.
