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Vigil for Kimani Gray, Teen Killed by Cops, Turns Violent in Brooklyn

A candlelight vigil last night to protest the controversial shooting death of a 16-year-old black boy on Saturday night in Brooklyn turned violent when the crowd grew frustrated and started throwing bottles at cops, smashing store windows and eventually looting a Rite Aid, according to published reports.

The crowd was upset by the death of Kimani Gray, who was gunned down in a hail of 11 bullets by two police officers in East Flatbush, who said he pointed a .38-caliber pistol at them, though eyewitnesses contradicted the police account. The unidentified officers have been placed on desk duty while the department investigates.

According to police, Gray left a group of other males when he saw police in an unmarked red car. Authorities say he was acting “suspiciously,” apparently by fidgeting with his waistband. Police say the undercover officers identified themselves as they approached him, and the boy then pointed a .38-caliber revolver at the officers, who responded by firing 11 shots, striking him several times. He was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital.

Police say Gray’s revolver was loaded with four live rounds.

The New York Post aided the police account by publishing that the 16-year-old had a rap sheet that included charges of grand larceny and inciting a riot, information the Post got from “police sources.”

But Gray’s friends say the cops opened fire as the teen was screaming, “‘Stop! I’m not running!’ ” said his pal, Devonte Brown, 16.

According to WPIX-TV, another witness, Camille Johnson, said, “He was running for his life, telling the cops, “Stop,”

She added: ”They really are, seriously, walking around, shooting little kids.”

At the vigil last night, riot police filled the streets when the crowd started throwing bottles. The crowd surged into the Rite Aid on Church Avenue near Albany Street and trashed it at about 9:15 p.m., pulling items off the shelves and attacking the store manager, clerks and security guard, according to the fire department. Sources told the Post that the group stole some items from the store and cash from the register, sources said.

Community member Sandra Mitchelin, 42, who helped organize the vigil, explained the rioting by saying the teens grew violent because they were disappointed that no elected officials initially attended the vigil.
“The kids, they retaliate because they want their voice to be heard,” said Mitchelin, who said Gray was “like a son” to her. “They’re frustrated. Not even the police commissioner or the mayor. Nobody came out… And he was a baby!”
But City Councilman Jumaane Williams eventually arrived on the scene, sending out a tweet that said, “I’m in the middle of the riot action at Church and Snyder in my district. Right now, things are tense. Young people have expressed anger.”
Estimating the crowd at 60 to 100 people, the councilman said he was “trying to defuse the tension. Tonight was a peaceful vigil [for Gray] that devolved into a riot,” Williams added. “The youth in this community have no outlets for their anger, no community center.”One person was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, an NYPD spokeswoman said, while no police officers were injured.“The whole community is fed up,” Mitchelin, who has a 14-year-old daughter who went to school with Gray, told The Post. “They come out and attack these kids like they’re gangbangers. … These were 13, 14, 15-year-olds at a party. It never deserved to go down how it went down.”

“We need to have an investigation,” Mitchelin added. “We need somebody to say something.”

Another demonstration is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday at East 55th Street and Church Avenue.

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