The Political Freakshow

NYPD Boo!: 2 Dead and 9 Injured After NYPD Shot Empire State Suspect Who Didn't Shoot!!!

Here’s what is known so far in the case:

NEW: Officers fired a total of 16 rounds; one officer shot nine while another one shot seven
Police killed the alleged gunman, identified as 58-year-old Jeffrey Johnson
Nine people were injured; three were still hospitalized late Friday, police say
Officers struck objects that fragmented, wounding bystanders, police say

Also, it has been revealed that the deceased suspect had not shot at police:

[NYPD Police Commissioner] Mr. Kelly added: “As far as shots being fired yesterday, we had a witness that said that Johnson fired at the police. But the final count of the shells, it appears that that is not the case.”

“The two rounds — one in the magazine, the other ejected from the weapon, neither of those rounds had a firing pin hit, so those rounds were not attempted to be fired, as we can tell right now,” he said in response to questions on whether Mr. Johnson’s gun was fired after he killed his former colleague, Steven Ercolino, 41. “We believe the gun was still functioning. The gun was not fired, that’s correct.”

So, it looks like right now, the suspect threatened to shoot with his gun out, but never shot at police. Police fired several times at the suspect, injuring 9 bystanders in the process. The injuries were caused by ricocheting fragments of bullets that were fired. Two victims had whole bullets in their bodies, one in each.

Instead of just stopping the suspect, NYPD ended up injuring 9 more people than the suspect injured. The suspect shot one person before police shot him. That accounts for the two deceased in the death and injury count.

The NYPD police needs to learn how to better take down suspects, without as much of a chance of injury to bystanders as possible. Their actions yesterday could have been better thought out. Although I applaud that the suspect was taken down, I wish that the police did a better job of taking him down without risk of bystander injury.