50 SHOTS AT INNOCENT MEN

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NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that officers appeared to use excessive force when they fired 50 shots at an unarmed man just hours before his wedding.

The shooting occurred outside a Queens strip club that was under investigation for drugs and prostitution.

"I can tell you that it is to me unacceptable or inexplicable how you can have 50-odd shots fired," said Bloomberg. "But that's up to the investigation to find out what really happened."

The mayor's comments came at a news conference after he met with elected officials and community leaders including the Rev. Al Sharpton and New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel.

The groom, Sean Bell, 23, was killed and two of his friends wounded early Saturday after a bachelor party at the Kalua Cabaret.

Police said they fired their guns because they thought the men were armed.

They were not.
"They were murderers"

In her first public comments on the shooting, Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre, told a radio station Monday that the people who shot her husband shouldn't be called officers.

"They were murderers, murderers," she told hip-hop station Power 105.1. "They were not officers. No one gives anyone the right to kill somebody." (Watch an angry crowd count down the number of shots fired Video)

Sharpton called the conference of leaders a "very candid" meeting.

He said the message to Bloomberg was: "This city must show moral outrage that 50 shots were fired on three unarmed men."

Some have also questioned whether the shooting was racially motivated because the victims were all black men.

The five officers who fired their guns included two blacks, two whites and one Hispanic.

Of the victims, Bloomberg said Monday: "There is no evidence that they were doing anything wrong," referring to everything leading up to the moment they struck the officer with their car. (Watch Mayor Bloomberg push for a grand jury probe Video)

For a mayor to question the actions of the officers and defend the shooting victims -- while reaching out immediately to the grieving community -- sets a decidedly different tone than in the past.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hounded for what some viewed as a slow response to the killing of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot 19 times in the Bronx by four white officers.

They were later acquitted of criminal charges.

The gunfire in the current case stemmed from an undercover operation inside the Kalua Cabaret, where seven officers in plain clothes were investigating alleged prostitution and drug use.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the groom was involved in an argument outside the club after 4 a.m., 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, Bell and his friend drove forward -- striking him and an undercover police vehicle, Kelly said.

The officer who had followed the group on foot was apparently the first to open fire, Kelly said.

One 12-year veteran fired his weapon 31 times, emptying two full magazines, Kelly said.
Bloomberg supports commissioner

Bloomberg also said police appeared to have violated the policy stating that officers cannot shoot at a vehicle being used as a weapon if no other deadly force is involved.

But Bloomberg was steadfast in his support for Kelly, who has been denounced by some activists since the shooting.

The five officers were placed on paid administrative leave and were stripped of their guns during the investigation.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Monday the results of his office's investigation would be presented to a grand jury.

He said he had spoken with the mayor and police commissioner and had met with Sharpton, Bell's parents and Paultre.

"I will be guided only by the law and the facts," Brown said in a statement. "I will reach no conclusions until the investigation is complete. There will be no rush to judgment."

Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, defended the officers' actions and said police were responding to the threat of the car.

"The amount of shots fired does not spell out excessive to me," Palladino said.

Giuliani's response to the 1999 Diallo killing sparked protests nearly every day for weeks around City Hall, where demonstrators accused his administration of trampling the civil rights of blacks and Latinos.

Bloomberg's allies these days include some who were once at odds with Giuliani.

Sharpton acknowledged that the tone has changed, but said courtesy only goes so far.

"This man has better manners than his predecessor. Let's see if we have better policy ... because we're not just interested in being treated politely," Sharpton said. "We're interested in being treated fairly and rightly."

Bloomberg told reporters he did not believe the shooting was racially motivated but said "it's clear that people in this city do feel that they are sometimes stopped, frisked, whatever, based on their ethnicity," and he said his administration would work to prevent that.

The mayor planned to meet with the victim's family as soon as it was appropriate, and said he would also visit the community in Queens.

Paultre made a quiet visit to the shooting site before dawn Monday, lighting candles clustered around a photo of the smiling couple with one of their daughters.

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 and Benefield in stable condition Monday.

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

[complexity]

this is extremely fucked up, i'll write about it tomorrow, i want to learn a little more before jumping to to many assumptions though.