May 31, 2009 8:46 am US/Eastern
Calls For Inquiry, Reform Grow After NYPD Shooting
Officer Omar Edwards Accidentally Gunned Down By Fellow Officer Thursday
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A neighbor of fallen NYPD officer Omar J. Edwards talks to CBS 2 HD after hearing news of the 25-year-old's death.
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Commissioner Raymond Kelly said 25-year-old, off-duty police officer Omar J. Edwards died after being shot within blocks of the Harlem police station on Thursday night.
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Officer Omar Edwards, 25, was an NYPD officer for two years before being gunned down by a fellow officer on May 28, 2009.
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Officer Omar Edwards (right) seen in this photograph with his wife.
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Marchers rallied at the scene of the deadly mistaken identity shooting, where an NYPD officer was gunned down by one of his own, demanding answers.
The community and its leaders called for a federal investigation.
Rev. Al Sharpton addressed the crowd, hundreds strong, calling for a federal investigation in to the shooting death of Officer Omar Edwards by another fellow cop.
It was a horrifying case of mistaken identity, and not the first.
"We have an obligation to have independent people look at it and say why [it happened]," Sharpton said.
The demonstrators marched along 125th Street to where it intersects with Second Avenue, the spot where the killing happened.
There were prayers and a moment of silence at the vigil.
On Thursday night, Officer Edwards was shot and killed while in plainclothes, his gun drawn as he chased a man suspected of breaking in his car. Officer Andrew Dunton and other cops saw the chase and intervened. Witnesses said they heard gun fire, then moments later the officers saying "We just shot a cop."
"It was seconds. It was seconds after it happened – immediately," witness Manuel Cardona says. "Everything happened so fast."
Officers Edwards and Dunton has been 15 feet apart when Dunton fired, and Officer Edwards was hit in the left arm, in the chest and the fatal shot to the back, which pierced his lung and heart.
Officer Edwards was a newlywed who leaves behind a wife and two young children.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly met with the family at their Ocean Hill, Brooklyn home and, on Saturday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg did the same. Later, he talked about the investigation and indicated that it is complicated and could be lengthy.
"There are some eyewitnesses and ear witnesses, and we'll try to establish whether the procedures that are in place were followed, and also whether or not those procedures are adequate," Bloomberg said.
According to police procedure, it is up to an off duty officer to prove to he is a cop to responding officers, remaining motionless and obeying all commands – even if it means the suspect gets away. Now, there are renewed calls for improved and more intense training for all officers, rookies and veterans.
Officer Edwards' father, Ricardo, said something must be done so what happened to his son never happens again.
"If they can do that to their own people, who can they protect?" Ricardo Edwards said. "They are here to protect me, protect you, but if they can't protect their own people, who they gonna protect?"
Officer Dunton, CBS 2HD is told, returned to his Long Island home visibly shaken. He's 30 years-old and has been with the force four years.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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