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NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― Mayor Michael Bloomberg met Tuesday with the family of the man who was killed by a barrage of police gunfire, the second straight day that he publicly reached out to a community angry over the weekend shootings outside a strip club.

Bloomberg went to the family's Queens church, where he met for over an hour with the parents and fiancee of the victim, along with the Rev. Al Sharpton. The mayor then met at a restaurant with about 50 community leaders.

Bloomberg described the meeting as "open, honest and blunt, which is the way it should be."

The mayor held a similar meeting Monday at City Hall in which he declared that officers appeared to use "excessive force" when 23-year-old Sean Bell was killed hours before his wedding.

The mayor stood by his comments Tuesday.

"I am a civilian. I am not a professional law enforcement officer," he said. "I used the word excessive and that's fine. That was my personal opinion. It may turn out to be that it was not excessive."

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly also said authorities are talking to another witness to the shooting.

Two of the groom's friends were wounded in the shooting Saturday following a bachelor party at the strip club. Suspecting that one of the men had a gun, the officers fired 50 rounds into the men's vehicle. The three were unarmed.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre, told hip-hop radio station Power 105.1 on Monday that the people who shot him shouldn't be called officers. "They were murderers, murderers," she said. "They were not officers. No one gives anyone the right to kill somebody."

Bell was the nephew of University of Miami basketball coach Frank Haith, who called the death a "tremendous shock to me and my family."

"Sean was a good kid who was looking forward to getting married and beginning a new chapter in his life," Haith said in a statement. "Our family is devastated, but I would prefer to wait until all the facts are known before commenting further."

Sharpton called Monday's meeting a "very candid" exchange. He said the message to Bloomberg was: "This city must show moral outrage that 50 shots were fired on three unarmed men." Some have also questioned whether the shooting was racially motivated -- the victims were all black men and the five officers who fired their guns included two blacks, two whites and one Hispanic.

Of the victims, Bloomberg said: "There is no evidence that they were doing anything wrong," referring to everything leading up to the moment they struck an officer with their car.

For a mayor to question the actions of the officers and defend the shooting victims -- while reaching out immediately to the grieving community -- sets a decidedly different tone than in the past. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hounded for what some viewed as a slow response to the killing of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot 19 times in the Bronx by four white officers. The shooters were later acquitted of criminal charges.

The gunfire in the current case stemmed from an undercover operation inside the Kalua Cabaret, where seven officers in plain clothes were investigating alleged prostitution and drug use.

Kelly has said the groom was involved in an argument outside the club after 4 a.m., and one of his friends made a reference to a gun. An undercover officer walked closely behind Bell and his friends as they headed for their car. As he walked toward the front of the vehicle, they drove forward -- striking him and an undercover police minivan, Kelly said.

The officer who had followed the group on foot was apparently the first to open fire, Kelly said. One 12-year veteran fired his weapon 31 times, emptying two full magazines, Kelly said.

Bloomberg also said police appeared to have violated the policy stating that officers cannot shoot at a vehicle being used as a weapon if no other deadly force is involved.

Bloomberg was steadfast, however, in his support for Kelly, who has been denounced by some activists since the shooting.

The five officers were placed on paid administrative leave and had their guns removed while the investigation goes on.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Monday that his office was investigating the incident and the results would be presented to a grand jury. He said he had spoken with the mayor and police commissioner since the shooting and had met with Sharpton and Bell's parents and fiancee.

"I will be guided only by the law and the facts," Brown said in a statement. "I will reach no conclusions until the investigation is complete. There will be no rush to judgment."

Lawyers representing four of the five shooting officers have contacted prosecutors and "expressed a willingness to cooperate with the investigation and the grand jury," a law enforcement official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation had not been completed. A grand jury could get the case as early as next week, the official said.

Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, defended the officers' actions and said police were responding to the threat of the car.

"The amount of shots fired does not spell out excessive to me," Palladino said.

The shooting has brought back memories of other police violence, particularly the 1999 killing of Diallo.

Giuliani's response in that case sparked protests nearly every day for weeks around City Hall, where demonstrators accused his administration of trampling the civil rights of blacks and Latinos.

Bloomberg said he is concerned about race relations and how this recent shooting, along with past incidents, affect the interaction of the police department with New Yorkers.

The survivors were Joseph Guzman, 31, who was shot at least 11 times, and Trent Benefield, 23, who was hit three times. Guzman was in critical condition and Benefield in stable condition on Monday.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)