Posted on 11/25/2006 2:29:19 PM PST by Brilliant
NYPD bullet kills groom on wedding day
NEW YORK - A bachelor party at a strip club ended early Saturday with police opening fire on a group of men leaving the establishment, killing a groom on his wedding day and wounding two others, one critically.
There was no immediate explanation for what sparked the shooting, which drew angry protests from family members and the Rev. Al Sharpton. The New York Police Department's chief spokesman, Paul Browne, declined to comment.
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."
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.
"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.
One of the wounded men was in critical condition at Mary Immaculate Hospital and the other was listed as stable.
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.
The dead guy and his friends threatened to shoot an undercover cop in the club and the undercover cop called for backup. The strip club is notorious for being busted multiple times for drug dealing, prostitution and weapons dealing. The dead guy and his friends shouldn't have threatened the undercover cop.
The article is unbelievably vague and short of information. But everyone has an opinion. This is one of those threads that makes Freepers look bad.
The dead guy and his friends threatened to shoot an undercover cop in the club which was under surveillance for drugs, prostitution and weapons. The perps got exactly what they deserved and Sharpton knows it.
It's true that adolescents are horny. Even older people are.
What exactly is a "gang banging cracker mom"? Does that mean she belongs to a street gang or engages in group sex or sex with gangsters or maybe she's a redneck mother or the mother of red necks or uses crack cocaine or some combination of some or all of the above?
I'm sooooo confused.
You're calling 'em perps. What did they perpetrate? A threat? To someone they didn't know was a cop maybe. For that, they deserve death? OK.
From where I sit, it's not that clear who the perps were in this deal - who was doing all the shooting? Maybe you have more info than I do, but the article doesn't make it clear that the 8 or 9 cops were in danger. Were both sides shooting or just one? I'd like to know the answer to that before passing judgment on the guys who got shot.
The perps threatened to shoot the undercover cop inside the club. The undercover cop called for backup. The perps ran ouf of the club, jumped into their car and rammed the backup van and hit one of the backup officers as they were coming to the undercover cop's aid. The perps most likely sold drugs to the undercover cop in the club. The full story will come to light very soon.
Here's the full story of what happened from Newsday with everything Sharpton doesn't want people to know...
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/am-shooting1126,0,793244.story?coll=ny-top-headlines
"Women under 50 still amaze me...no wonder my buddies who divorce their wives marry young women...dumb a$$ me...=s="
Ok...this makes no sense. So I guess my response is that men over 50 amaze me.
"Just because you're a married man doesn't mean you're dead. Would you rather your husband went to a strip club and came home all excited, or just had a nice, quiet affair?"
This is a false dichotomy. There is no either/or choice here.
I can oppose his going to strip clubs AND oppose his having an affair...and he expects the same of me.
Married men who don't go to strip clubs are not "dead" - they're just more mature than other guys.
"The dead guy and his friends threatened to shoot an undercover cop in the club and the undercover cop called for backup. The strip club is notorious for being busted multiple times for drug dealing, prostitution and weapons dealing. The dead guy and his friends shouldn't have threatened the undercover cop."
Yes...this guy sounds like a real winner right?
Maybe I'm being a little too hard on him - maybe the fiance is simply a fool for being with him in the first place.
"It's true that adolescents are horny. Even older people are."
Most people are horny...that's not my point.
Geesh, what a mess.
I remember a certain congressman who recently hit an unmarked police car. If they had shot him it would have something.
Why did you just re-state a line from the story? What is your point? Did you have something to say??
The thread topic or ongoing posts here? LOL
The actual event.
Allegedly it is the man's last night of "freedom" (until she leaves him and cleans out all his worldly assets) so his pals feel obligated to give him one night of debauchery in hopes he will come to his senses before the wedding.
If the groom goes through all of that and still wants to get married, the bride knows he's been pre-whipped and is sufficiently ready for matrimony.
uh-huh....nice try....as if the bride doesn't have trials of her own to look forward to.
A creative response though :)
I believe that's what the coroner said too.
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