In a shooting just after 9:00 A.M. Friday, two NYPD officers shot and killed a man who’d just shot a former co-worker. and also wounded nine bystanders.
By Associated Press, Published: August 24 | Updated: Saturday, August 25, 5:04 PM
NEW YORK — All nine people injured during a dramatic confrontation between police and a gunman outside the Empire State Building were wounded by gunfire from the two officers, police said Saturday, citing ballistics evidence. Via NYPD: Ballistics show all 9 wounded outside Empire State Building were shot by police – The Washington Post:
The veteran patrolmen who opened fire on the suit-clad gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, had only an instant to react when he whirled around and pointed a .45-caliber pistol at them as they approached him from behind on a busy sidewalk.
Officer Craig Matthews shot seven times, and Officer Robert Sinishtaj fired nine times, police said. Neither had ever fired their weapons before on a patrol. The volley of gunfire felled Johnson in just a few seconds and left nine other people bleeding on the sidewalk. In the initial chaos Friday, it wasn’t clear whether Johnson or the officers were responsible for the trail of the wounded, but based on ballistic and other evidence, “it appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters Saturday at a community event in Harlem. Police officials have said the officers appeared to have no choice but to shoot Johnson, whose body had 10 bullet wounds in the chest, arms and legs.
After-the-fact criticism is a cheap shot, and while these two cops did what they had to do, it’s still fair to question NYPD firearms policy: are our officers using the best handguns, given our population density, and whether we’re giving our officers not only the best training possible, but sufficient hours at sufficient intervals.
The truth be told – whatever the merits and failings of N.Y.P.D. Academy training, once it’s over, our cops are going to the range to qualify twice a year. It’s not enough.