The shooting death of an African immigrant in the Bronx by the NYPD 16 years ago still sends shockwaves throughout the Big Apple

On this date 16 years ago, a police brutality case crossed international lines when a 22 year old young man from Guinea named Amadou Diallo was gunned down in front of his Bronx apartment by four plainclothes police officers. Diallo was shot a total of 41 times. Officers Edward McMellon and Sean Carroll emptied their 16-shot semi-automatic weapons at the West African immigrant.

Diallo, who was a street vendor, was pronounced dead at the scene. His body laid face up after being virtually dismembered by bullets, with his beeper and wallet laying next to him in his Soundview building at 1157 Wheeler Avenue. Diallo’s roommate, Momodou Kujabi, stated to the Daily News almost two decades ago that the police admitted to him that the killing was a mistake when they asked him to identify Diallo’s bullet ridden body.

All of the officers; McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy, were placed on desk duty as an investigation was being conducted. Three of the four officers were involved in prior police shootings and at least one of them left a man dead on Halloween.

On February 25, 2000, all four officers were acquitted of all charges.

Diallo’s body was flown back to Guinea.

-SHa Be Allah(@KingPenStatus)