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Police kill unarmed man in New York, mistaking pipe for gun
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A bullet hole is pictured on a shop window of the Champs Elysees boulevard in Paris, Friday, April 21, 2017. France began picking itself up Friday from another deadly shooting claimed by the Islamic State group, with President Francois Hollande convening the government's security council and his would-be successors in the presidential election campaign treading carefully before voting this weekend. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
New York police shot dead an African American man in Brooklyn on Wednesday after mistaking a piece of pipe he was holding for a gun.
The shooting -- which followed a similar incident that sparked protests in Sacramento and which came on the 50th anniversary of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr's assassination -- is the latest in a string of killings by police that have sparked a nationwide debate on violence by law enforcement.
The shooting occurred shortly before 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) in Crown Heights, a predominantly black neighborhood in the heart of Brooklyn.
Officers responded after receiving three 911 emergency calls saying a man was pointing an "object that appears to be a gun" at people on the street, said Terence Monahan, Chief of Department for the New York police.
When police approached, the man "took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object at the approaching officers," Monahan said.
#BREAKING This is the metal object NYPD officers thought was a gun. Police say the black man who was shot and killed had a "shooting stance" which caused officers to open fire. @Telemundo47 #NYPD #NewYork #Police #Brooklyn #CrownHeights pic.twitter.com/pQvWUy4bAk
— Cristian Benavides (@cbenavidesT47) April 5, 2018
Four officers fired 10 shots at the man, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The object the man was holding was not a gun, but rather "a pipe with some sort of knob on the end of it," Monahan said.
Shortly after the shooting, dozens of people gathered at the scene, with many shouting and denouncing the conduct of the police, according to footage broadcast live on Facebook.
According to media reports, the victim of the shooting was known in the neighborhood and was mentally ill but not violent.
The shooting came less than three weeks after police in the city of Sacramento fired 20 rounds at 22-year-old Stephon Clark, fearing he was carrying a weapon.
Clark, who was killed, was actually holding an iPhone.
Anger over the March 18 shooting erupted into days of protest in the streets of downtown Sacramento, with marchers blocking traffic and clashing with police in riot gear.
