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.
“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.
