# Police Shoot, Kill Groom after Bachelor Party in Qeens



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*The Associated Press*

Officers shot three people who had just left a bachelor party outside a Queens strip club early Saturday morning, leaving the groom dead on the day of his wedding, according to reports from police and witnesses.
The shooting happened just after 4 a.m. near Club Kalua, said Officer Kathleen Price, a police department spokeswoman.
"All I know, they was celebrating," said Denise Ford, who said her son was one of the surviving shooting victims. She said the man who died was the groom. "The guy was getting married today."
The man who died was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, said Sgt. Mike Wysokowski, another police spokesman. The other two were taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital nearby, with one in critical condition and the other stable. They ranged in age from 23 to 31 years old.
Price said there were no reports that officers were wounded in the incident.
"They weren't rowdy or nothing like that," said Brown, 57, of Queens, who said he works as a photographer at the club.
It was not clear what sparked the shooting. A message seeking comment was left at one phone listing for the club; another went unanswered.








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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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## ArchAngel2 (Oct 11, 2005)

I'd love to know the WHOLE story behind this one!!!!! I get the feeling this article is leaving something out


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## 94c (Oct 21, 2005)

kojack1 said:


> I'd love to know the WHOLE story behind this one!!!!! I get the feeling this article is leaving something out


some cops just hate weddings.


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## Guest (Nov 25, 2006)

Don't we always walk up and shoot 3 people for nothing???


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## NewEngland2007 (Dec 31, 2005)

OCKS said:


> Don't we always walk up and shoot 3 people for nothing???


Extra points for Grandmas!


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## mr.anttrax (May 24, 2006)

Don't forget the inlaws!!


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

NYPD bullet kills groom on wedding day

By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer

 
AP Photo: New York Police Depatment crime scene investigators inspect a vehicle involved in a police shooting...

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. 
___ Associated Press writers Cristian Salazar and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.


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## Mongo (Aug 10, 2006)

Some guys have all the luck


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## TopCop24 (Jul 11, 2005)

Surprise surprise the reverend is involved


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

TopCop24 said:


> Surprise surprise the reverend is involved


 Did anyone doubt that him an Jessseeee Jaaakksonnn would get involved? Ill bet if three cops were killed there, that ass would be screaming "we dont need to jump to conclusions" and " theyre innocent till proven guilty"


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## EOD1 (Mar 11, 2004)

justanotherparatrooper said:


> Did anyone doubt that him an Jessseeee Jaaakksonnn would get involved? Ill bet if three cops were killed there, that ass would be screaming "we dont need to jump to conclusions" and " theyre innocent till proven guilty"


i know... like any explanation would be good enough for the rev and his followers. they could have fired a tactical nuke that said "die pigs, die" and it still wouldn't be good enough!


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## pahapoika (Nov 5, 2006)

one story on the news last night said the suspect's vehicle
smashed into a under cover car , backed up and then 
rammed the police car again.

of course the suspects in question are pure as the driven snow  
</IMG>


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## dmmkmq (May 11, 2006)

he was out at 4:00am on the day of his wedding??? my mother told me that nothing good happens after midninght!


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## KozmoKramer (Apr 25, 2004)

> ..leaving the groom dead on the day of his wedding.


It was going to happen anyway, this was just a little more expedient.


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

KozmoKramer said:


> It was going to happen anyway, this was just a little more expedient.


:L::L:
Oh thats funny!


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## Barbrady (Aug 5, 2004)

Mongo said:


> Some guys have all the luck


Some guys have all the pain...


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

Two Words:

Tawana Brawley

That's all you need to know when dealing with these ass clowns.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Cousin: Man slain by police was 'on the straight-and-narrow'

NEW YORK His cousin says Sean Bell was "on the straight-and-narrow" and not the kind of person who'd confront police.
There will be a vigil today for Bell, who was fatally shot by New York police yesterday, just hours before he was to be married.
Police fired 50 shots at the car Bell was driving away from his bachelor party at a Queens strip club early yesterday, killing him and wounding two other men.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says it's too early to say whether the shooting was justified.
Police thought one of the men in the car might have had a gun, but investigators found no weapons. The car struck one undercover officer and an undercover vehicle.
Kelly says it's not clear if the officers who fired had identified themselves as police.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Crowd denounces police killing of groom

 
AP Photo: Rev. Al Sharpton is seen at a rally against police brutality outside Mary Immaculate...

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - An angry crowd demanded Sunday to know why police officers killed an unarmed man on the day of his wedding, firing dozens of shots that also wounded two of the man's friends. Some called for the ouster of the city's police commissioner.

At a vigil and rally the day after 23-year-old Sean Bell was supposed to have married the mother of his two young children, a crowd led by the Rev. *Al Sharpton* shouted "No justice, no peace."

At one point, the crowd of a few hundred counted off to 50, the number of rounds fired.
"We cannot allow this to continue to happen," Sharpton said at the gathering outside Mary Immaculate Hospital, where one of the wounded men was in critical condition. "We've got to understand that all of us were in that car."
Some in the crowd called for the ouster of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, yelling "Kelly must go."
The police officers' group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care said it was issuing a vote of no confidence in Kelly over the shooting.
Paul Browne, chief spokesman for the NYPD, said Sunday: "We are continuing to look for additional witnesses to shed light on the incident, and assisting the district attorney's office with its investigation."
The five officers were placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation, Browne said.
Community leaders planned a rally Dec. 6 at police headquarters.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his aides were in contact with Bell's family and community leaders throughout the weekend. Bloomberg and Kelly also planned to meet Monday with community leaders at City Hall.
The shootings occurred at about 4 a.m. Saturday outside the Kalua Cabaret, a strip club where Bell's bachelor party was held. The survivors were Joseph Guzman, 31, who was shot at least 11 times, and Trent Benefield, 23, who was hit three times. Guzman was in critical condition Sunday and Benefield was stable.
Relatives of all three men - many of them stoic, and some crying - attended Sunday's vigil but none spoke publicly.
At a news conference Saturday, Kelly said the department was still piecing together what happened, and that it was too early to say whether the shooting was justified.
The car, driven by Bell, was struck by 21 of the police bullets after the vehicle rammed an undercover officer and hit an unmarked NYPD minivan. Other shots hit nearby homes and shattered windows at a train station, though no one else was injured.
Police thought one of the men in the car might have had a gun but investigators found no weapons. It was unclear what prompted police to open fire, Kelly said.
It was also not clear whether the shooters had identified themselves as police, Kelly said.
Kelly said the confrontation stemmed from an undercover operation inside the strip club in the Jamaica section of Queens. Seven officers in plain clothes were investigating the Kalua Cabaret; five of them were involved in the shooting.

According to Kelly, the groom was involved in a verbal dispute outside the club and one of his friends made a reference to a gun. 
An undercover officer walked closely behind Bell and his friends as they headed for their car. As he walked toward the front of the vehicle, the car drove forward - striking the officer and a nearby undercover police vehicle, Kelly said. 
The officer who had followed the group on foot was apparently the first to open fire, Kelly said. That officer had served on the force for five years. One 12-year veteran fired his weapon 31 times, emptying two full magazines, Kelly said. 
Bell backed the car onto a sidewalk, hitting a building gate, authorities said. He then drove forward, striking the police vehicle a second time, Kelly said. 
The police department's policy on shooting at moving vehicles states: "Police officers shall not discharge their firearms at or from a moving vehicle unless deadly force is being used against the police officers or another person present, by means other than a moving vehicle." 
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.

___ Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.


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## mikeyd1313 (Jul 30, 2006)

<Cousin: Man slain by police was 'on the straight-and-narrow' >

Isn't that what they always say


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