'Dumbfounded': Neighbors can't answer why man they watched grow up would kill 2 officers

Update:

SALINA, N.Y. — Thursday, the Onondaga County District Attorney provided additional details about Murphy's whereabouts on Sunday prior to the shooting that speak to his state of mind. According to Fitzpatrick, Murphy was drinking at a bar with a friend, who was then in the car with him when Syracuse Police attempted to pull Murphy over in Tipperary Hill. After Murphy sped off, Fitzpatrick said that his friend got out of the car frustrated with Murphy's conduct and got an Uber rideshare car home.

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He was a student, a friend; a "polite" kid in the neighborhood.

Residents of Darien Drive in Salina have never known a different Christopher Murphy. Now, he's known to the world as the man who ambushed and killed two officers.

"I'm really just dumbfounded," a neighbor told the I-Team anonymously.

This neighbor didn't want to be on camera, precisely because of the tight knit community she has called home for decades. Neighbors know each other, including the Murphy family at 4945 Darien Drive. This woman who lives nearby said that her kids grew up with Murphy.

"They went to school together. They played together. I truly was shocked when I found out it was him," she said, "for it to be Christopher, that just blew my mind."

According to officials, Murphy shot and killed Onondaga County Lt. Sheriff's Deputy Michael Hoosock and Syracuse Police Officer Michael Jensen after officers tracked his car down to the home Sunday evening. Murphy had fled from a traffic stop in Syracuse's Tipperary Hill neighborhood around 7 p.m., but not before police got his license plate. Lt. Hoosock located the car around 8:24 p.m. The first sign of trouble was AR-15 style ammunition in the car, then the sound of someone handling a firearm inside the residence. Less than a half hour later, the shooting starts. Murphy first "ambushed" Lt. Hoosock in a neighbor's backyard, then went to the front and opened fire on Syracuse Police officers. Jensen and another officer returned fire, ultimately killing Murphy.

Syracuse traffic stop spirals into deadly shootout: A timeline of Sunday night's events

Neighbors have been left to try to process what happened, with some taking cover as the bullets flew in all directions. Murphy's violent acts have left intense heartbreak throughout the community, with officers losing their "brothers" to gunfire for the first time in Onondaga County in over 30 years. Syracuse Police Union President Joe Moran refers to Murphy as a "demon."

'Are we safe?': Fatal shooting of 2 officers stuns quiet Salina neighborhood

As late as Wednesday afternoon, deputies were recovering bullets and shell casings from front lawns using metal detectors. They're also left with burning questions; several people expressed total disbelief that Murphy was capable of this kind of violence. The only red flag that the anonymous neighbor shared with the I-Team was that Murphy and his siblings were known to shoot squirrels in the backyard with a pellet gun.

He graduated from Liverpool High School in 2008; more recently, the Onondaga County District Attorney said that he landed a job with tech company JMA Wireless. A firm answer as to his motive to grab an AR-15 rifle with an illegal 40-round magazine attached on Sunday is still unclear.

One clue could lie in his 2014 DWI arrest, according to officials. He had resisted arrest that night, though the arresting officer doesn't remember anything extremely out of the ordinary or memorable about the incident, deputies said. Murphy ended up not facing a formal charge for resisting arrest, instead just hit with the DWI conviction. Still, it's possible he's held a grudge against law enforcement since.

"He had been grinding about it so to speak against officers, against law enforcement," Syracuse Police Chief Joseph Cecile said, "nothing concrete though."

Was Salina suspect's old DWI arrest motivation for rage against law enforcement?

The second clue investigators have offered is the possibility that drugs influenced his mental state Sunday night. According to DA Bill Fitzpatrick, Murphy was using cocaine before the shooting began. His longtime friend, Shawn Kinsella, was there with him; he told investigators that Murphy told him to get out, indicating something bad was about to happen. Deputies ended up detaining Kinsella attempting to hop the back fence of the Murphy residence. He was not charged with anything.

The next step for authorities is combing social media, looking at not only Murphy's accounts but anything they can find from friends and relatives to offer clues to the violence and chaos.