OfficerBlueBrooklyn, NY – NYPD fatally shot a man after three people called him in for pointing a gun at people on the street.
Outrage is beginning to boil over the shooting as media outlets like Huffington Post post grossly inaccurate headlines like “New York Police Fatally Shoot Unarmed Black Man On Brooklyn Street.”
The incident started when police received three calls about a man who was pointing a gun at people at Utica Avenue and Montgomery Street about 4:45 p.m., according to WABC.
Officers arrived on scene and located the suspect. NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said, “The suspect then took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object at the approaching officers,” according to New York Daily News.
Four officers fired a total of 10 shots at the suspect. The officers provided first aid and the suspect was transported to the hospital where he died.
The object that the suspect pointed at the officers was identified as a pipe, according to WABC.
“This was not an [emotionally disturbed person] call… this was a call of a man pointing what 911 callers felt was a gun at people on the street,” Chief Monahan said, according to WABC. “When we encounter him he turns with what appears to be a gun at the officers. We have to stay straight on the facts with this incident today.”
None of the officers on scene were equipped with body cameras, but the chief showed an image from a surveillance camera which showed the suspect in a shooting stance.
Despite three callers reporting a gun being pointed at people, and the suspect pointed what appeared to be a gun at police, people have been expressing outrage over the shooting.
“It’s almost like they did a hit,” witness Jack Hinds told WABC. “They didn’t say ‘freeze,’ they didn’t say ‘put your hands up,’ they didn’t say ‘stop for a minute.’ They just started shooting.”
Local community members told New York Daily news that the suspect was well-known and mentally disturbed.
California lawmakers are proposing a state law to make justified shootings like this one illegal.