New York Local News

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Residents of the 125th Street and Second Avenue East Harlem neighborhood where off-duty police officer Omar J. Edwards was gunned down by a fellow cop are asking questions about the use of deadly force in minority clustered communities.

Thursday night's tragic incident involving NYPD officers has renewed concerns about police procedure. There's disappointment and frustration as details emerge about the moments before the white officer fired 6 shots at Edwards, a black officer mistaken for a suspect.

Maria Feliciano lives near the scene of the shooting.

"In a situation like this, it's gonna probably go away being it is a white cop that shot the black officer. If the shoe was on the other foot it would probably take years for justice," said Feliciano.

About thirty blocks south on the Upper East Side, locals were just as appalled by the tragic shooting. But reserved judgement on the officer who pulled the trigger.

"He probably had to do what he had to do at the moment, none of us can really understand how things happened," said UES resident Albert Lee.

"Maybe there are some officers that are too quick to pull the trigger...but it's a scary job and you only have that one second to make a decision," said Barry Toback.

The New Yorkers CBS 2 HD spoke with all agreed: there is a race relations problem between the police and minority communities.

"A lot of people still feel that the police are very racist," said Harlem resident Laura Young. "I certainly believe race relations are still not where they should be in America."

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he got calls shortly after the shooting "from black officers who were at the precinct and were alarmed by the shooting of Omar Edwards."

The civil rights activist said he and his National Action Network "are completely concerned of a growing pattern of black officers being killed with the assumption that they are the criminals."

"This calls for federal investigation and intervention to sort out the facts and bring about a just resolve," Sharpton said in a statement. "Can police investigate themselves fairly and impartially? It would seem very difficult at best and unlikely in fact."

It was unclear whether the officers identified themselves. The name of the officer who fired the shots has not been released, but Kelly said he had worked at the NYPD for four years.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on his radio show Friday that investigators were reviewing security tapes and interviewing witnesses, and said the shooting was not deliberate. Investigators were also questioning the man Edwards had been chasing.

"The only thing that can come out of this is to improve procedures so perhaps it doesn't happen again," Bloomberg said. "We all know policing is a dangerous job and accidents happen when people have guns in their hands, even legal guns in this case which they are authorized and trained to use."

Kelly said Edwards had been on the force for two years and worked in the housing bureau. He was recently married and had two young children. His father-in-law has been a police officer for 19 years.

On Friday, police blanketed the shooting scene. A stretch of 125th Street, a major thoroughfare, was blocked off. People passing in cars and waiting for buses tried to get a glimpse beyond the yellow crime-scene tape; some asked each other what was going on.

  

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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