In wake of the two NYPD officers who were gunned down on Saturday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for protesters to take a brief hiatus until after the officers are laid to rest.

On Monday, the embattled mayor asked protesters calling for justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown to put a hold on their demonstrations and political activities until after the funerals of Officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40.

"I think that's the right way to try to build towards a more unified and decent city," the mayor said during an afternoon news conference, according to ABC News.

"There's never been a doubt in my mind that we're working towards a day that there is greater harmony between police and community," he added.

He went on to say call the murder "an attack on our democracy, our values, and an attack on every New Yorker, and we have to see it as such," at a police charity event, reports The Huffington Post.

Earlier on Monday, De Blasio urged people to set aside politics and protests to support and comfort the families of the two slain NYPD officers who are "suffering unspeakable pain."

"It's a time to step back and just focus on these families," he said at a gathering of the Police Athletic League before his afternoon conference. "I think it's a time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in due time. In the coming days, as two families prepare for funerals and figure out how to piece their lives back together, that should be our only concern: How do we support them?"

Police say that the man charged with killing the officers had a troubled history of violence and instability, along with multiple run-ins with the law, reports BBC News.

Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, has been identified as the man who fatally shot the cops as they were sitting in a police car in Brooklyn. Brinsely then took off and pulled the trigger on himself in a nearby subway station. He also shot his ex-girlfriend in the stomach in her Maryland home before he drove to New York City with the intent to murder police officers.

Leading up to the shooting, the New York Police Department's Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Brinsley had posted anti-police and anti-government messages on his Instagram account in light of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed African American men who were killed by police. However, neither cop was charged in their deaths.

Officer Ramos' funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Christ Tabernacle Church in the Glendale, Queens.