# Witness in NYPD Shooting Found



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*By TOM HAYS*
_Associated Press Writer_

Police have found a man suspected of fleeing with a gun after police shot and killed a groom hours before his wedding, though the man's lawyer said Friday that his client wasn't armed or directly involved.
Police said clues gathered during a raid on a Queens home suggested the man, identified by his lawyer as 27-year-old Jean Nelson, was with three unarmed men early Nov. 25 moments before officers fired 50 bullets at their car. Sean Bell, 23, was killed, and two men with him were wounded, sparking outrage in the city.
Nelson, who was detained Thursday but released, saw the shooting, his attorney Charlie King said. However, he "did not have a gun, nor was he in the car as police have suggested," King said.
The first officer to open fire has claimed he followed four men to the car, where he believed there was a gun, but no weapon was found. Police union officials have suggested the fourth man fled with one, although the wounded men, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, contend there was no fourth man.
A law enforcement official said Friday that investigators had not ruled out Nelson as being the fourth person. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Meanwhile, Bell's family prepared for his funeral Friday evening at the church where he was to have been married hours after the shooting.
The Rev. Lester Williams, who had planned to preside over the wedding, said writing Bell's eulogy has been a draining, tearful endeavor.
"I am exasperated. I'm overwhelmed, and I am angry," Williams said Thursday. "This has been one of the saddest times of my life, behind the death of my own mother."
An unidentified undercover officer and four others - identified as detectives Mike Oliver, Mark Cooper and Paul Hedley and Officer Mike Carey - have been placed on paid administrative leave while the Queens district attorney's office conducts a grand jury investigation that could result in criminal charges.
The intensity of the search for the fourth man reflected its potential impact on a case rife with conflicting accounts and unanswered questions about why the five officers unleashed such a barrage.
An undercover officer has told investigators that another missing witness - a man dressed in black and standing in front of a sport utility vehicle - argued with Bell and his companions as they left a Queens strip club where Bell was having a bachelor party. The officer was part of a team investigating complaints about prostitution and drug dealing at the club.
Outside the club, the man in black reached into his pocket as if he had a weapon as Bell challenged him to a fight and one of the groom's friends said, "Yo, get my gun," two law enforcement officials said, citing the undercover officer's account.
Officials said the exchange prompted a second undercover detective to follow Bell and three other men as they walked away toward their car, apparently suspecting the men meant to arm themselves and attack the man in black.
Moments later, the second undercover officer started shooting at the car when Bell, trying to drive away, bumped him and smashed into an unmarked police van.
Through his lawyer, the detective has insisted that he clearly identified himself as a police officer as he tried to stop them. He also has said he spotted Guzman, then sitting in the passenger seat, making a sudden move for his waistband before he and four other officers opened fire.
___

Associated Press Writer Pat Milton contributed to this report.








Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

*Mystery Witness Sought in NYPD Shooting*



*By TOM HAYS*
_Associated Press Writer_

Relatives of a groom shot by police hours before he was to have been married prepared instead for his funeral, set for Friday night at the church where the wedding was supposed to happen.
The Rev. Lester Williams, who had planned to preside over the wedding, said writing Sean Bell's eulogy has been a draining, tearful endeavor.
"I am exasperated. I'm overwhelmed, and I am angry," Williams said Thursday. "This has been one of the saddest times of my life, behind the death of my own mother."
Police said they were drawing closer to finding a man they say is a key witness to detectives' shooting of Bell, 23, and two other unarmed men - but survivors said the mystery man does not exist. The witness may have been with the three men who were shot early Saturday by five officers who fired 50 rounds at their car, police said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said a Wednesday apartment raid that led to the arrests of four people was related to the investigation into the shooting, which touched off outrage in the community. He declined to elaborate.
The intensity of the search for the fourth man reflected its potential impact on a case rife with conflicting accounts and unanswered questions about why the officers unleashed the barrage of bullets.
Police union officials have suggested that a fourth man could have fled with a gun - a scenario investigators have not ruled out.
"The existence of a fourth person is important to this investigation," Kelly said.
The hospitalized survivors, Guzman and Trent Benefield, insist there was never a fourth person, their lawyer said Thursday.
"The claim of a fourth person is a myth," said the attorney, Sanford Rubenstein.
Charlie King, an attorney for five others at the bachelor party, also said there was no fourth person in the car.
The unnamed undercover shooter and four others - identified as detectives Mike Oliver, Mark Cooper and Paul Hedley and officer Mike Carey - have been placed on paid administrative leave while the Queens District Attorney's office conducts a grand jury investigation that could result in criminal charges.
An undercover officer has told investigators that another missing witness - a man dressed in black and standing in front of a sport utility vehicle - argued with Bell and his companions as they exited the club. The officer was part of a vice team investigating complaints about prostitution and drug dealing at the club.
Outside the club, the man in black reached into his pocket as if he had a weapon as Bell challenged him to a fight and one of the groom's friends said, "Yo, get my gun," two law enforcement officials said, citing the undercover officer's account.
Officials said the exchange prompted a second undercover detective to follow Bell and three other men as they walked away toward their car, apparently suspecting the men meant to arm themselves and attack the man in black.
Moments later, the second undercover officer started shooting at the car when Bell, while trying to drive away, bumped him and smashed into an unmarked police van.
Through his lawyer, the detective has insisted that he clearly identified himself as a police officer as he tried to stop them. He also has said he spotted Joseph Guzman, then sitting in the passenger seat, make a sudden move for his waistband before he and four other officers opened fire.








Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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## 94c (Oct 21, 2005)

look at the bright side, at least she never got the chance to be a widow.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Tensions high as NYPD victim is buried

By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - The man gunned down in a spray of 50 police bullets on his wedding day was buried Saturday as hundreds of angry demonstrators honored him with a moment of silence before going jaw-to-jaw with police in a bitter confrontation outside a Queens precinct house.

 

AP Photo: Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz, center, leader of the New Black Panther Party, speaks to anti-police...

The demonstrators taunted police, standing just inches away from a row of officers and daring the police to lay a hand on them. Some in the crowd held signs reading "Death to the pigs" and "Shoot back."
"Fifty shots from the New York cops!" the crowd chanted before the moment of silence.
"We didn't come here to start any violence," said Malik Zulu Shabazz, a black nationalist leader. "The New York police started the violence."
The "March of Outrage" organized by the New Black Panther Party came one week after 23-year-old Sean Bell was killed and his friends Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman were wounded when police opened fire on the unarmed trio's car as they left a strip club. The demonstration Saturday began outside the club, moved around the corner to the site of the shooting and then continued to the precinct.
Starr Nelson, a Queens woman in the crowd with two sons in their 20s, said relations between the police and local residents were antagonistic even before the shooting.
"It could have been my son," she said. "(The police) need to start seeing people as people, not animals. You don't even shoot at an animal 50 times."
At a local hospital, Guzman was upgraded from critical to stable condition Saturday, and Benefield remained stable.
Outside the facility, an attorney for the two reiterated that they do not believe there was a fourth person in the car before the shooting as police suggest, and an undercover officer did not identify himself and flash his badge to the men in the car.
"Neither of the victims who are hospitalized, their bodies riddled with bullets, saw a badge or heard a command that the man who was holding a gun was a police officer," attorney Sanford Rubenstein said.
It is still unclear what prompted officers to fire on Bell's vehicle on Nov. 25, but police apparently feared one man in the group was about to get a gun. The unarmed victims were black; the five officers were black, Hispanic and white.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown was investigating the case and civil rights leaders including the Rev. *Al Sharpton* have called for murder charges.
On Friday, an overflow crowd of tearful mourners paid their respects to Bell inside the Community Church of Christ in Queens. Bell and his two friends were celebrating his bachelor party before the shooting.

___
Associated Press writers Tom Hays and Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.


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## Blueflu1 (Jan 22, 2006)

im so sick of hearing the news report that police shot an unarmed man. No mention of how he ran over a cop and was ramming police in another car. Justice served.


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## mikeyd1313 (Jul 30, 2006)

Blueflu1 said:


> im so sick of hearing the news report that police shot an unarmed man. No mention of how he ran over a cop and was ramming police in another car. Justice served.


Isn't it also upsetting that the mayor never has the cops back.


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

What a load of crap!!!


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