https://nypost.com/2018/04/04/cops-shoot...-bus-stop/

Quote:A man terrorizing people on the streets in Brooklyn with what appeared to be a firearm was fatally shot by cops — who later determined the weapon was not a gun but a metal pipe.

Saheed Vassell, 34 — whose family said he suffered from bi-polar disorder — was brandishing the curved metal pipe and pointing it at people at a bus stop at Utica Avenue and Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights at 4:40 p.m., according to police.

Three witnesses called 911 to report that a man wearing a brown jacket was pointing “what was described as a silver firearm at people on the street.”

Surveillance footage from a Utica Avenue store shows Vassell pointing the pipe like a firearm at a person who is walking into a store.

Quote:At Utica Avenue, Vassell “took a two-handed shooting stance” and aimed the metal pipe directly at arriving officers, according to NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan.

Four cops, three in plainclothes and one in uniform, then fired a total of 10 shots, striking Vassell several times.

Quote:The man’s father, Eric Vassell, said his son suffered from bipolar disorder and drank but was “never a bad person.”

The dad said cops could have handled the situation differently.

“There must be a way to save this person than to kill them,” he said. “Aren’t the police trained how to defend [themselves] and prevent killing a mental person?”

Quote:Afterward, people gathered to decry to police-involved shooting.

“They didn’t try to help him!” a woman yelled. “That wasn’t CPR!”

But police said officers immediately rendered aid to Vassell and called an ambulance.

A man wearing a 67th Precinct clergy-council crisis-team jacket tried to calm a woman at the scene who was visibly upset.

“They don’t want to bridge the gap between us, they want to kill us,” the woman said.

Security camera still of Vassell prior to the shooting

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/broo...-1.3914960

Quote: Jaccbot Hinds, 40, who witnessed the shooting said officers jumped out of their unmarked police car and fired without warning.

“They just hopped out of the car. It’s almost like they did a hit. They didn’t say please. They didn’t say put your hands up, nothing,” Hinds said.

The NYPD refused to say if the responding officers warned Vassell before firing.

Quote: After the shooting, an angry crowd formed at the edge of the police tape shouting at police and pointing out the officers they believed to be responsible.

“The whole community came outside,” he added. “People were going crazy. It was a nightmare out there.”

Quote: Wilson said he was shocked that it would come to this.

“The officers from the neighborhood, they know him. He has no issue with violence ... This shouldn’t have happened at all.”

Quote: Vassell’s ex-partner, Sherlan Smith, 36, mother to Tyshawn, said she parted with Vassell on good terms.

“He was a good father. He wasn’t a bad person. No matter how they want to spin it, he wasn’t a bad person,” Smith said. “Too many black people are dying at hands of police officers and it’s about time something be done.”

On the fence outside Vassell’s building a sign read, “Without Consequences Police Murders Will Continue”, on the back it said “Black Lives Matter."

She also noted the bleak symbolism of Vassell getting shot on April 4.

“On the anniversary of the man who stood up for black people ... you’re going take a black man down with nine bullets,” Smith said.

even that looks like a handgun in the security video.

As someone close to a person with severe bi-polar disorder, I can't disagree with the cops actions. It doesn't matter the mental state of a person(not that they knew that anyways) they arrived on scene to a person who brandished a weapon that looks just like a pistol. The officers had no choice but to protect themselves and the public.

Just a life lesson learned or in this case, an end of life lesson learned. Don't take a pipe to a gun fight.

Video here with 9-11 calls
https://twitter.com/NYPDnews?ref_src=tws...3923201025