Teenager Is Shot and Killed by Officer - boy’s aunt compared her nephew to Trayvon Martin in Florida.

[G&D 51]

Another Trayvon Martin? You decide!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/nyregion/officer-fatally-shoots-armed-teenager-in-bronx-police-say.html?_r=1&

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Shaaliver Douse was killed.

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Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Just after 3 a.m. on Sunday, the pop of gunshots cut through the air. Two rookie police officers — barely a month out of the Police Academy, and now on foot patrol in the Bronx — hurried toward the sound.

They headed east on East 151st Street to find a chase unfolding, one person running down the middle of the street, another following with a handgun. The officers ordered the second figure to drop his gun. Instead, another shot rang out.

One of the officers fired a single shot. The bullet struck the gunman in his lower left jaw, killing him.

The suspect, Shaaliver Douse, was believed to be part of a youth gang on East 169th Street called the Nine. He lived at a nearby housing project, and court records showed he had been caught with a gun at least once before; his last brush with the law involved his arrest on a charge of attempted murder, after a rival gang member was shot in May. All this, the police said, at age 14.

The shooting of Shaaliver appeared to fall within the guidelines for using deadly force, police officials said. Nonetheless, the shooting seemed to frame the uneasy confluence of issues that the Police Department constantly grapples with in high-crime neighborhoods like Shaaliver’s: the youth gangs that still run roughshod over parts of the Bronx; the prevalence of illegal guns on the streets; and the waves of rookie officers sent in to patrol those streets each year.

It also served to stir resentment of the police among some in Shaaliver’s neighborhood, including the boy’s aunt, Quwana Barcene, 35, who compared her nephew to Trayvon Martin in Florida.

“Him, Trayvon Martin, it’s never going to end,” she said. “A child. Fourteen years old. Fourteen years old. Gone. Shot in the head. By police.”

At a news conference Sunday, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly acknowledged that Shaaliver had been the youngest person he could recall being shot by the New York police. He offered condolences to the teenager’s mother for the death of “her son of just 14 years of age,” he said.

“Regardless of the circumstances,” he said, “this is a crushing blow to any parent.”

But the circumstances justified the shooting, he said, showing a pair of videos. In the first, a figure who Mr. Kelly said was Shaaliver can be seen approaching a group of several men, including one who Mr. Kelly said was Shaaliver’s target.

Shaaliver can be seen raising a weapon and firing three shots, Mr. Kelly said; the group then scatters. A second video, taken around the corner, showed the next moment: the target running fast around the corner in the middle of the street, a bullet flying past him and slamming into a wall on the far side in a puff of smoke. Mr. Kelly said that after the teenager was ordered to drop his gun, he fired again, though it was unclear whether he was aiming for the fleeing man or the officers.

“I think they did what we would expect officers of any experience level to do,” Mr. Kelly said, noting that officers were trained to “shoot to stop,” not simply to wound. He said the shooting officer, who is white, is 26; his partner, who is black, is 27. Shaaliver was black.

The officers had been assigned to the Bronx as part of the Police Department’s Operation Impact, which matches rookie officers with more seasoned ones to patrol areas with especially high crime rates. City officials have credited the program with helping to reduce crime. But it has long drawn suspicion from civil liberties groups, who say flooding crime-ridden areas with officers has also swelled the number of unwarranted police stops, breeding suspicion and antagonism in some communities.

At Shaaliver’s housing project, the Gouverneur Morris II Houses, his friends gathered to support his parents. “This is unreal, how the police get away with murder,” his aunt, Ms. Barcene, said. “They get away with murder.”

A gun had been confiscated from the teenager in the past year: He was arrested on a charge of criminal possession of a weapon in October. He pleaded not guilty and had another court date scheduled for later this month, according to Bronx court records. He had also been charged with attempted murder in May, when a 15-year-old member of the Lyman Place crew was shot in the shoulder. Those charges were dropped after the victim and a witness stopped cooperating, a city official said on Sunday.

Investigators are now looking into the possibility that Shaaliver had been chasing another member of a rival gang on Sunday, the official said.

He was to start his sophomore year at Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical High School in the South Bronx in the fall, his aunt said. An only child, he had been raised mainly by his mother, though he saw his father often. And lately, his mother said, he was less wayward. She had told a neighbor, Cynthia Blount, 49, that she was thinking of moving them away from the neighborhood’s negative influences.

"She said he started becoming good,” Ms. Blount said. “I don’t know what happened. And now this happened.”

[Jacque67 7,328]

I disagree that this is similar to the TM case in that the dead person in this case was chasing someone with a gun.

I do however find it horrific that the officers were trained to shoot to stop and not simply to wound. These police officers were rookies and taking the code for law. A more experienced cop would have not followed the letter of the law so strictly perhaps.

I have experienced the NYPD first hand and they are scary mother F¥¥¥ers.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I'm sorry but this isn't even in the same realm as that case.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

This forum will never get over this case if people keep comparing it to EVERY STORY EVER.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I would have no problem with taking firearms away from police.

Suggesting people should be trained to "shoot to wound" demonstrates absolutely NO knowledge of firearms, shooting, physics, basic common sense, the law, or even the purpose for the existance of firearms. I understand barring such posts could be considered discrimination based on nationality, but they should come with a warning label. NO ONE in any police department anywhere is trained to "shot to wound". Being "horrified" they aren't is further display of lack of knowledge. Like adding bells and whistles to the display. Using a firearm constitutes deadly force and if there is no justififcation for using deadly force, then you do not use deadly force. Period. Deadly force should carry a high liklihood of being...deadly. (hence the name)

I mean where should they wound them? In the trigger finger so they can't shoot back? OMG. Just scratch them to get their attention? stop, I must stop, my brains are turning to turds just thinkng about it!

The similarity I see with TM is that the officers will be reviewed to determine if their actions were justified, just as GZs were. There may be a different method applied because they are police officers (depends on what the city has agreed to in the interest of satisfying racists) but in any case they will be reviewed by the usual method and that will determine if they are justified or not.

NO ONE will ask them why they weren't trained to "shoot to wound"

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

This forum will never get over this case if people keep comparing it to EVERY STORY EVER.

Why should it?

Daily postings of justified use of firearms would be a good thing. Firearms are estimated to be used in self defense 2 million times each year, most of the incidents involve no shooting at all. Many are never reported. we should consider a new forum called "the armed citizen" where we can post these good news stories every day

None of the shootings are intended to "wound" OMG I am still laughing

There has been no Federal prosecution of GZ and never will be. There has been no civil suit entered against GZ.

We will need to wait and see if this case is similar to that one

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

If its as stated then it's a righteous kill and Aunt is delirious.

As an African I am offended that folks will even compare this to the Florida case.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

If its as stated then it's a righteous kill and Aunt is delirious.

As an African I am offended that folks will even compare this to the Florida case.

This is what happens, they will try to compare every gangbanger or person with a weapon to trayvon martin. Because that's how they see him.

[Ban Hammer 13,398]

I do however find it horrific that the officers were trained to shoot to stop and not simply to wound.

shoot to wound?

[Jacque67 7,328]

shoot to wound?

OMG are you going to ban me again? Sure they could have shot the kid in the foot or arm.

This is what happens, they will try to compare every gangbanger or person with a weapon to trayvon martin. Because that's how they see him.

The aunt wasn't black?

[Teddy B 17,252]

This is what happens, they will try to compare every gangbanger or person with a weapon to trayvon martin. Because that's how they see him.

Who's "they"?

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

OMG are you going to ban me again? Sure they could have shot the kid in the foot or arm.

The aunt wasn't black?

She is, I was talking about the media. She can't compare the two since her nephew had a gun and was shooting at someone.

Who's "they"?

I was talking about the media, but then I went back and re-read this article. She needs to stop thinking like that, her nephew was in the wrong.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Yep. The aunt is trying to jump on the band wagon which is bad for the black population. There are morons of every race.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Yep. The aunt is trying to jump on the band wagon which is bad for the black population. There are morons of every race.

It's unfortunate that the act of a few idiots is bad for "the black population"..

There are morons of every race, but it seems that in this country, only blacks are judged as a whole by the actions of a few.

I don't remember the last time one idiot ended up being "bad for the white population" in this country.

It's a double standard that shouldn't exist, but does.

[Teddy B 17,252]

She is, I was talking about the media. She can't compare the two since her nephew had a gun and was shooting at someone.

I was talking about the media, but then I went back and re-read this article. She needs to stop thinking like that, her nephew was in the wrong.