NYPD officer shoots and kills a totally innocent man

Nov 22, 2014

A NYPD officer has shot and killed an unarmed man in Brooklyn in what Police Commissioner William J. Bratton called “an unfortunate accident.”

The victim, 28-year-old Akai Gurley, was “a total innocent” in the shooting, which occurred in a dark stairwell. The rookie officer who shot Gurley, 27-year-old Peter Liang, had been an officer for less than 18 months at the time of the shooting.

Liang and his partner were patrolling the Louis H. Pink Houses and making their way down the stairwell when Liang accidently fired his service weapon. The bullet hit Gurley, who had entered the stairs with his girlfriend, in the chest and caused him to fall down two flights of stairs.

The housing projects had seen a recent spike in violence, which was why the officers were patrolling the area. Gurley was later pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital, according to the New York Times.

The lights in the stairway were not working at the time of the shooting, which made the stairwell dark. Bratton said, “As the officers were entering the eighth-floor landing, the lights were not operable. Everything points to accidental discharge.”

Gurley was unarmed; Liang, according to protocol, has turned in his badge and gun as an official investigation ensues.

Bratton made sure to clarify that Gurley was not a suspect in any crime, saying, “The deceased was not engaged in any activity other than trying to enter the stairwell.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio offered his condolences to the victim’s family, while pointing out that the incident differs from other recent police controversies in the news. “A life was lost and my heart goes out to the family of the young man. It does appear to have been an accident,” the mayor said. “What happened in Ferguson is different than what happened on Staten Island is different than what happened in Brooklyn. Each of them has their own dynamic.”