The father of slain New York City Police Officer Brian Moore saluted his son Monday as his body was carried from the hospital where he died. 
 
 Retired NYPD Sgt. Raymond Moore was among the hundreds of officers standing at attention outside Jamaica Hospital after Moore’s valiant two-day struggle to survive being shot in the face by a violent ex-con ended in tragedy. 
 
 Moore was just 25, and his death plunged the NYPD into mourning. 
 
 He was the first cop killed in the line of duty since December, when Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were executed by a cop-hating maniac as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn. And his passing drew condolences from beat cops and strangers all the way up to President Obama. 
 
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 Officer Brian Moore died on Monday from his injuries sustained after being shot in the face by an ex-con in Queens on Saturday. (Facebook) The 25-year-old died two days after being shot. 
 
 “He came from a family of police officers, and the family of fellow officers he joined in the NYPD and across the country deserve our gratitude and our prayers,” said Obama, who was at Lehman College in the Bronx on Monday for an appearance related to a nonprofit when the brave officer died. “Not just today, but every day. They’ve got a tough job.” 
 
 Moore’s death was felt deeply at the 105th Precinct in Queens Village, where he was based. Many officers had just returned from a funeral for a cop from the same precinct who died of a possible 9/11-related illness when they found Moore was also gone. 
 
 Minutes after Moore’s death was announced, 35-year-old career criminal Demetrius Blackwell was slapped with a first-degree murder charge. Prosecutors will seek a grand jury indictment against Blackwell on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said. 
 
 The suspected murder weapon — a silver .38-caliber Taurus Model 85 revolver — was found under a box near a barbecue grill in a yard that Blackwell ran through in an attempt to escape the law, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. Three spent shells and two live rounds were found in the chamber. 
 
 Investigators suspect that this silver .38-caliber Taurus Model 85 revolver, which was stolen from a bait-and-tackle shop in Perry, Ga., in 2011, was used in Moore's killing. 
 
 It was one of 23 guns stolen Oct. 3, 2011, from a bait-and-tackle shop in Perry, Ga., Boyce said. Nine of those guns turned up in New York City, he said. 
 
 Meanwhile, Moore’s body was taken to the medical examiner’s office in Manhattan for an autopsy. 
 
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 “It is with great regret and sadness I announce the passing of New York City Police Officer Brian Moore, shield No, 469, New York City police officer, hero of the city, killed in the line of duty,” Bratton announced earlier. 
 
 Bratton noted that Moore had made more than 150 arrests in just five years on the job. He earned two medals for meritorious police duty and two for excellent police duty. 
 
 “We don’t give them out easily,” Bratton said. “He worked for them. He earned them.” 
 
 Police officers gather outside Jamaica Medical Center in Queens as an ambulance carrying Moore's body prepares to transport it to the city's Medical Examiner office. (Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News) Police Commissioner Bill Brattan hugs a member of the fallen cop's family outside Jamaica Hospital. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News) Cops hug and grieve as the Moore's body leaves Jamaica Hospital. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News) Family and police line up as the 25-year-old's body is taken from Jamaica Hospital on Monday. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News) Moore's comrades salute as his body is transported from Jamaica Hospital to the Manhattan Medical Examiner's office on Monday. (Marcus Santos) 
 
 Moore’s uncle and cousin were also cops. And they were with Moore at his hospital bedside when he died. 
 
 “He prevented crime and disorder,” Bratton added of the young officer. “He strove for a safer, fitter city. He was a cop.” 
 
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 Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said “there’s no closure for a New York City police officer’s family in death.” 
 
 “But when we’re done here, when we square our shoulders and wipe our tears for Brian and his family, those same police officers are going to turn around and they’re gonna staff radio cars and foot posts and they’re gonna ride on our subways and work those stairwells,” he said. “They may have sadness in their eyes, but they have bravery in their hearts.” 
 
 Mayor de Blasio, who has had a rocky relationship with the NYPD, steered clear of the hospital on Monday at Bratton’s suggestion. 
 
 A police officer stands near a memorial for fallen Officer Brian Moore outside the 105th Precinct station house in Queens Village, Queens, on Monday. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News) 
 
 “Today was a day for members of the NYPD to be together at that hospital,” the mayor said, adding that he was there Saturday. “It’s not a place, in my view, for elected officials.” 
 
 De Blasio heaped praise upon Moore. 
 
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 “We lost one of the best amongst us, a young man who was called to do good for others, to serve others, who was willing to put his life on the line,” he said. 
 
 De Blasio ordered flags flown at half-staff. Officials said the wake and funeral would be later this week, possibly Thursday and Friday. His name will join the NYPD’s “Wall of Heroes” at Police Headquarters, which now honors 759 officers who died in the line of duty since 1854. The names of five more officers are slated to be put on the wall. 
 
 Moore was the second graduate of Plainedge High School in North Massapequa, L.I., to die in the line of duty, the other being Officer Edward Byrne, who was killed in 1988. 
 
 Byrne’s murder outside the South Jamaica home of a witness in a drug case also drew national attention and led to the restoration of the death penalty in New York in 1995. 
 
 Shortly before word of Moore’s death leaked out, two grim-faced officers carrying a dress uniform and a pair of polished shoes were spotted at the hospital. 
 
 Danny Roberts, 38, a member of the NYPD who worked with Moore, leaves flowers on the doorstep of Moore's Massapequa, Long Island, home on Monday. (Christie M Farriella/for New York Daily News) 
 
 It was believed to be Moore’s uniform. 
 
 Meanwhile, grieving police officers left flowers on the doorstep of Moore’s home in Massapequa, L.I. 
 
 OPINION: FAMILY OF FALLEN NYPD COP BRIAN MOORE WILL FEEL PAIN FOREVER 
 
 “We’re all thinking of Brian,” said Officer Danny Roberts, who worked with Moore for a time at the 105th Precinct. 
 
 Over at the precinct, a woman who declined to give her name dropped off a bouquet of tiger lilies and roses. 
 
 “I’m sorry,” she said, choking up as she greeted a couple of police officers outside the stationhouse. “He took a bullet for the whole neighborhood.” 
 
 Gov. Cuomo also praised Moore. 
 
 Moore was shot during a traffic stop in Queens Village. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News) Demetrius Blackwell will liely face a murder charge now for shooting Moore. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News) Cops fan out looking for the gun allegedly used by Demetrius Blackwell to shoot the undercover cop. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News) 
 
 “The shooting of Officer Brian Moore over the weekend was a deplorable act of violence that has robbed New York of one of its Finest,” he said. 
 
 Blackwell, a self-described “hell-raiser” and a cousin of former Giants cornerback Kory Blackwell, has a lengthy rap sheet — and a prior history of attacking cops. 
 
 An NYPD dress uniform with the 105 insignia on the collar, believed to be for Moore, is brought to the hospital before his body was moved to the medical examiner's office Monday. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News) 
 
 Moore was driving an unmarked police car about 6 p.m. Saturday when he and partner Erik Jansen, 30, pulled up behind Blackwell, whom they had spotted “adjusting an object in his waistband,” Bratton said. 
 
 The doomed plainclothes police officer identified himself as a cop and asked, according to a source, “Do you have something in your waistband?” 
 
 Blackwell responded: “Yeah, I got something.” 
 
 Then he whipped out a gun and fired two or three shots into the officers’ car at the corner of 212th St. and 104th Road, police said. Moore was hit in the cheek but Jansen escaped injury. 
 
 Blackwell, who has nine prior arrests, including two for assaulting cops, was nabbed 90 minutes later. 
 
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 With Dale W. Eisinger, Chelsia Rose Marcius, Celeste Katz, Kerry Burke, Joseph Stepansky, Erin Durkin 

 Decorated NYPD Officer Brian Moore died Monday with his stricken family at his hospital bedside — leaving an entire city awash in grief. 
 
 President Obama, speaking at Lehman College, declared “New York’s Finest lost one of its own today,” and that Moore came from a family of police officers who “deserve our gratitude and our prayers not just today but every day. They’ve got a tough job.” 
 
 “Policing is never easy,” NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Monday evening. “At this time in America, it’s even more difficult … I’ve been doing this for almost 50 years, and it never gets easier, and I’ve heard this at almost every police death, ‘Why is it always the good ones?’ Maybe the reason it’s always the good ones is because there are so many good ones.” 
 
 He announced that Queens prosecutors will put the case before a grand jury Tuesday and upgrade charges to first-degree murder of a police officer. 
 
 Investigators found the gun used in Moore’s shooting. They are doing ballistics tests on the five-shot Taurus Model 85 revolver, which has a 2-inch barrel and was found hidden under a box, beside a backyard BBQ next door to where Demetrius Blackwell was arrested Saturday night. 
 
 The gun, which still held two live rounds, was stolen on Oct. 3, 2011, one of 23 guns stolen at a bait and tackle shop in Perry, Ga. Nine of those guns have since found their way to New York streets. 
 
 A grim-faced Bratton was seen entering Jamaica Hospital as news of Moore’s death Monday afternoon surfaced, and around the same time, two cops also went in — one carrying a pair of shiny shoes and the other a police dress uniform. 
 
 Bratton later hailed Moore — who was shot in the head in the line of duty in Queens on Saturday — as one of many cops who “do a great job, often with great valor. 
 
 “It’s with great regret and sadness that we announce the passing of New York City Police Officer Brian Moore. Shield number 469. New York City police officer, hero of the city, killed in the line of duty,’’ Bratton told reporters outside the hospital. 
 
 “In his very brief career, less than five years, he had already proven himself to be an exceptional young officer,’’ Bratton said. “In that career, he had made over 150 arrests, protecting and serving the citizens of this city. 
 
 “He had already received two exceptional police service medals and two meritorious police service medals. We don’t give them out easily.” 
 
 Police union chief Pat Lynch said that “now, we are going to take part in a sad, sad tradition’’ — carrying a cop’s casket out of a hospital. 
 
 Moore’s body taken from the hospital in an ESU truck as hundreds of cops stood outside and saluted. 
 
 A weeping woman believed to be a relative reached out and tried to touch the truck, while a crying man, also appearing to be family, saluted. 
 
 The truck was accompanied by a full police escort to the morgue at First Avenue and 28th Street in Manhattan, where an autopsy will be conducted, sources said. 
 
 Lynch said that while the entire force is in mourning, cops will still be hitting the beat to keep the city’s streets safe. 
 
 “They may have sadness in their eyes, but they have bravery in their hearts,’’ he said of the officers. 
 
 There had been little hope for Moore since he was shot in the forehead, with the bullet exiting the back of his neck, tearing through his brain stem, sources said. 
 
 During emergency surgery, Moore had to have half his brain removed, so even if he had survived, he would have been completely incapacitated, sources said. 
 
 Moore’s dad, retired NYPD Sgt. Raymond Moore, “is devastated,” a source said. 
 
 Grieving neighbors began putting up blue bunting on their own houses and NYPD blue ribbons on their mailboxes along the street after learning of Moore’s death. 
 
 Blackwell is accused of gunning down Moore after the cop and his partner stopped him because he was suspiciously fidgeting with something in his waistband. 
 
 “Do you have something in your waist?’’ Moore asked Blackwell, 35, while sitting behind the wheel of the cops’ unmarked car, sources said. 
 
 “Yeah, I got something,” Blackwell snarled back. 
 
 Blackwell then whipped out a handgun and fired at the cops three times, sources said. 
 
 Moore was hit at least once. His partner, Erik Jansen, was not struck. Two bullets have been recovered from the scene, sources said. 
 
 As the city prepared for its third cop funeral in five months, more tributes for the dead officer poured in. 
 
 “Our hearts are heavy today as we mourn the loss of Police Officer Brian Moore,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. 
 
 “For five years, Brian served with distinction and he put his life on the line each day to keep us all safe. On Saturday, he made the ultimate sacrifice in service to the people of New York City.” 
 
 Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement, “The shooting of Officer Brian Moore over the weekend was a deplorable act of violence that has robbed New York of one of its finest. As a member of the NYPD, Officer Moore put the safety of his fellow New Yorkers before his own, and we will remember his service with gratitude and pride. I join with all New Yorkers in mourning his passing and send my deepest condolences to his friends and family.” 
 
 Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli, Kevin Sheehan, Sarah Trefethen, Reuven Fenton, Geoff Earle, Yoav Gonen and Kate Sheehy
– Brian Moore, the NYPD officer shot in the head Saturday night by a suspect who was fiddling with something in his waistband, died today of his injuries after a two-day struggle that ultimately ended with his family removing life support, reports the New York Post. The 25-year-old is the first NYPD cop to die in the line of duty this year; Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was seen entering the Jamaica hospital caring for Moore early this afternoon. Suspect Demetrius Blackwell, a cousin of former New York Giant Kory Blackwell, will now likely face murder charges, reports the New York Daily News. Both papers cite this exchange between Moore and Blackwell at the time Moore was shot: Moore, after identifying himself as a police officer: "Do you have something in your waistband?" Blackwell: "Yeah, I got something." Police say the 35-year-old then fired two or three shots into Moore's unmarked patrol car. Moore's partner escaped injury.