Dec 11, 2006 6:44 am US/Eastern
4th Armed Man Not Mentioned In Shooting Report
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
Witnesses interviewed for a preliminary report about the fatal police shooting of a 23-year-old groom on his wedding day did not mention a fourth man, possibly with a gun, or that investigators wanted to find the mysterious figure, a newspaper said Monday.
The New York Times reported the findings on Monday after obtaining a copy of the police department's 23-page preliminary report of the shooting, a detailed look at what happened on Nov. 25, when Sean Bell and his two friends were caught in a blizzard of 50 bullets after leaving a strip club, Kalua Cabaret. Bell's two friends were wounded. All three men were unarmed.
The fact that a fourth man was not mentioned is significant because days after the shooting, police undertook a search for the person that led many in the black community to decry the tactics as intimidating and heavy-handed. The Police Department has suggested that the fourth man may have had a gun and fled when the plain-clothes officers opened fire.
The preliminary report includes summaries of interviews with Lt. Gary Napoli, who was supervising the undercover team on the night of the shooting, two sergeants who responded after the shooting began, and 10 other officers, according to the Times. Synopsis of accounts by several witnesses, and one of the shooting victims, Trent Benefield, are included in the report.
Police investigators did not interview the officers involved, in deference to a district attorney probe that could result in criminal charges.
Benefield's statement to police raises more questions about what happened. He told police that Bell began to drive forward and in reverse after a plainclothes officers opened fire. That account contradicts earlier police statements that a detective opened fire after being hit by Bell's car.
The report reveals that none of the witnesses recalled hearing anything close to 50 rounds, The Times said. The sergeants who arrived after the shooting stopped told investigators two of the plain-clothes officers said they were unsure whether they had even fired at all, the newspaper reported.
The report also emphasizes that Napoli and his team was concerned that men outside the club could be armed prior to the shooting.
Reached by phone early Monday morning, a police spokesman said no senior official would be available to comment about the report's findings until later in the day.
(© 2006 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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