WORLD
NY police kill groom on wedding day
(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-26 08:43
NEW YORK - Police opened fire early Saturday on a car full of men driving
away from a bachelor party at a strip club, killing the groom on his
wedding day in a shooting that drew a furious outcry from family members
but little immediate explanation from police.
The shooting, which also left two other men hospitalized, drew angry
protests from family members and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
As many as eight officers may have been involved in the shooting near the
Kalua Cabaret in Queens, said Sgt. Mike Wysokowski, another department
spokesman. There were no reports that any officers were wounded, Officer
Kathleen Price said.
"First it was like four shots," said Abraham Kamara, 38, who lives a few
blocks from the scene of the shooting and said he was getting ready for
work at the time. "And then it was like pop-pop-pop like 12 times."
Police said little about the deadly incident other than the shooting
stemmed from an undercover operation inside the club. Officers were
"observing a group that later got into a confrontation with back-up
officers outside," said a police official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because the investigation had not been completed.
The intersection where the shooting occurred remained blocked off
Saturday afternoon as police inspected a car and a minivan and placed
dozens of crime scene markers on the ground where shell casings had been
recovered.
Denise Ford, who said her son was one of the survivors, said the trio's
car had hit an unmarked police vehicle. Police did not immediately
confirm that either of the vehicles in the intersection belonged to the
department.
"All I know, they was celebrating," Ford said of the men. She said the
man who died was the groom. "The guy was getting married today."
Relatives identified the man killed early Saturday as Sean Bell, 23.
Sharpton said Bell and his fiancee had two children, ages 5 months and 3
years.
Sharpton said after visiting the two wounded men �� Trent Benefield, 23,
and Joseph Guzman, 31 �� that he was outraged to find the pair handcuffed
to their hospital beds. He said one suffered 17 wounds, though it was
unclear how many were bullet wounds, and the other man was shot three
times.
One of the wounded men was in critical condition at Mary Immaculate
Hospital and the other was listed as stable.
"We're not anti-police ... we're anti-police brutality," Sharpton said.
Sharpton said family members told him that there were no guns in the
young men's car and "there was no reason for the police to shoot."
"On the face of it, it seems to me to be certainly something that causes
extreme alarm and must be thoroughly investigated," said the civil rights
leader, who said he was called by a relative of Bell.
Robert Porter, who identified himself as a cousin of Bell, said about 250
people were invited to Saturday's wedding and were flying in from all
over the country. He said his cousin wasn't the type to confront police
and was "on the straight and narrow."
Roy Brown, who said he works as a photographer at the club, said sirens
sounded not long after the three men left the club.
"They weren't rowdy or nothing like that," said Brown, 57.
The owner of the building, Juan Escobar, would not say who owned the
Kalua Cabaret. A message seeking comment was left at a phone number
listed for the club.
In 1999, NYPD officers killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African
immigrant who was shot 19 times in the entry to his apartment building.
The four officers in that case were acquitted of criminal charges.
In 2003, Ousmane Zongo, 43, a native of the western African country of
Burkina Faso, was killed during a police raid on a warehouse where he
repaired art and musical instruments. Zongo was shot four times, twice in
the back.
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