A “nervous” rookie officer killed an unarmed man in a staircase in Brooklyn last night
Without a single word of warning, Officer Peter Liang shot and killed and unarmed Brooklyn man in the staircase of his building for apparently no other reason than fear.
Akai Gurley was leaving his girlfriend’s apartment around 11:15 Thursday night and went to take the staircase to the ground floor because the elevator was broken in Butler’s building in the Pink Houses Projects in the notorious East New York section of Brooklyn.. At the same time, Officer Liang, a 28 year old rookie, and his partner were on vertical patrol in the same staircase. As Liang came down the “dark” staircase , as described by NYPD Commissioner William Bratton, he came upon Gurley and his girlfriend Melissa Butler and without provocation, fired a single shot from the eighth floor landing into Gurley’s chest.
Gurley and Butler then ran down the stairs after the 28 year old father was shot, until he collapsed on the fifth floor.
The situation is being called a “tragic accident” by the NYPD, being that it has been confirmed that Gurley was not involved in any form of criminal activity whatsoever. Liang has been put on modified duty since the shooting.
This shooting death by a police officer comes in the midst of the grand jury decision to indict Officer Darren Wilson as well as the choking death of Eric Garner on Staten Island.
TheSource.com will keep you updated as this story develops.
-Sha Be Allah(@KingPenStatus)