Kimani Gray: 16 Year Old Brooklyn Boy Shot Dead By Police

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/nyregion/16-year-old-killed-by-new-york-police.html

Two plainclothes police officers shot and killed a teenage boy late Saturday night on a Brooklyn street, after he pointed a handgun at the officers, the police said.

Photo distributed by the NYC Police Department shows the gun recovered from the scene of a shooting.

The police said the officers, patrolling in an unmarked car in East Flatbush, came upon the teenager, identified as Kimani Gray, 16, in a group of men just before 11:30 p.m. The teenager separated himself from the group and adjusted his waistband in what the police described as a suspicious manner.

As officers got out of the car to question him, Mr. Gray turned and pointed a .38-caliber Rohm revolver at them, the police said; two officers fired, hitting the teenager. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Kings County Hospital Center.

Mr. Gray did not fire the handgun, which was recovered at the scene. Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department, said the six-shot revolver was loaded with four live rounds.

“After the anti-crime sergeant and police officer told the suspect to show his hands, which was heard by witnesses, Gray produced a revolver and pointed it at the officers, who fired a total of 11 rounds, striking Gray several times,” Mr. Browne said.

Mr. Gray’s sister, Mahnefah Gray, 19, said that a witness to the shooting told her that her brother had been fixing his belt when he was shot. She, among others who knew Mr. Gray, said they had never known him to have a gun. Even if he had one on Saturday night, he would not have pointed it at police officers, Ms. Gray said.

“He has common sense,” she said.

A woman who lives across the street from the shooting scene said that after the shots were fired, she saw two men, whom she believed to be plainclothes officers, standing over Mr. Gray, who was prone on the sidewalk, clutching his stomach.

“He said, ‘Please don’t let me die,’ ” said the woman, 46, who gave her name only as Vanessa. One of the officers, she said, replied: “Stay down, or we’ll shoot you again.”

A cousin of Mr. Gray’s, Malike Vernon, 17, said that Mr. Gray had been at a party Saturday night in the area where he was killed. Mr. Gray, who was of Guyanese and Jamaican descent, grew up in the neighborhood, Mr. Vernon said.

Mr. Gray was the second youngest of seven children; an older brother, Jamar, died in a car accident two years ago, Mr. Vernon said. He said Mr. Gray’s mother, Carol, had fainted at the hospital, and was having heart problems.

“She’s going crazy,” Mr. Vernon said.

The shooting came little more than 10 hours after officers shot a man on Staten Island, in a traffic stop that turned violent. In that case, officers had information indicating that the driver of the car, a white Toyota Camry, had a gun in his possession, the police said.

As a pair of plainclothes detectives, their shields displayed, approached the car, near Manor Road and North Gannon Avenue around 1:15 p.m., the driver accelerated in an attempt to flee, pinning one officer against another car, the police said. The second detective then fired his gun after he saw the driver, identified as Clinton James, 33, of Staten Island, reach for a weapon, the police said.

Mr. James, struck at least once in the torso, continued to pull away but collided with several vehicles and then crashed into a utility pole. He was arrested and was sent to Richmond University Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.

The police said the driver had an extensive arrest record. A .44-caliber Taurus revolver was recovered from his car, the police said. Mr. James was arrested on a list of felony charges that included assaulting an officer.