NEW YORK (AP) - A handgun used to fatally shoot a New York Police Department officer is the ninth of 23 weapons reported stolen from a Georgia pawn shop in 2011 to be recovered on the city's streets.
Two of the guns taken from Little's Bait & Tackle Pawn Shop in Perry, Georgia on Oct. 3, 2011, were found within five months during field stops, police said Tuesday. Five others were recovered during investigations, they said.
The eighth was found during a car stop on Feb. 8, 2012, in the Bronx.
The shop owner's sister-in-law said she feels terrible about the death of Officer Brian Moore.
Moore was pronounced dead Monday, two days after he was shot by a man suspected of carrying a handgun.
Moore, the son, nephew and cousin of police officers, had started carving out a promising career for himself at the NYPD, making more than 150 arrests and earning service medals in less than five years on the job.
The 25-year-old was shot in the head by a man with an extensive criminal record, including serving five years in prison on an attempted murder conviction, police said.
Moore had been in a coma after undergoing brain surgery following the Saturday evening shooting. He died with his family, including his police officer relatives, at his bedside.
Hundreds of uniformed officers stood at attention outside the hospital where he died and lined up down the block to salute the ambulance carrying his body out. Afterward, many cried and consoled one another.
"He proved himself to be an exceptional young officer," police Commissioner William Bratton 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. "This is what he wanted to do."
Flags at police headquarters flew at half-staff.