N.Y. Police Shoot, Kill Unarmed Man

NEW YORK –– An unarmed immigrant street peddler with no criminal record was
shot and killed by four officers who were searching for a serial rapist,
police said.

Amadou "Ahmed" Diallo, a 22-year-old immigrant from West Africa, was killed
early Thursday in the vestibule of the building where he shared a small
apartment with two roommates. The four officers fired a total of 41 shots
and an autopsy found Diallo was wounded 19 times in the legs, torso, back,
arm and chest.

Diallo, who had no criminal record, was unarmed, said a police source,
speaking on condition of anonymity. His wallet and a beeper were found nearby.

There were no civilian witnesses and the officers involved have yet to be
interviewed by investigators as requested by the Bronx district attorney's
office. The office would not comment on the case.

Diallo's uncle, Mamadou Diallo, described the Guinea native as "a very
honest guy, a religious guy" who sold hats, clothing and other items on the
street.

"They shoot somebody 30, 40 times," said the uncle, who talked to police
after the shooting. "They tell me this is probably (a) police mistake."

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani asked residents to be patient. "We all have to wait
and react to facts. ... We've had terrible mistakes in this city when
people have reacted to rumors and intuition and feelings."

Diallo died of multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, said Ellen Borakove,
spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office. The medical examiner was
still determining how many bullets hit Diallo and the direction they were
fired from.

The four plainclothes officers — assigned to a street crime patrol — were
investigating a serial rapist in the area, but it was not known if they
thought Diallo was a suspect.

The police source said a roommate told investigators Diallo had come home
at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, then left again.

Shortly after 12:30 a.m., the source said, the police officers had contact
with a man on Diallo's street, but it wasn't clear if it was Diallo. Diallo
was shot in his vestibule about 10 minutes later.

"We don't know what happened, because we haven't spoken to them, but it
looks like one guy panicked and the rest followed suit," The New York Times
quoted an unidentified a police official as saying.

Three of the four officers, all assigned to the 43rd Precinct in the Bronx,
have been involved in prior shooting incidents. No criminal charges were
brought in two cases, and the third is still under investigation.

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press