Unarmed Bronx teen fatally shot in the chest by cops, police say
Gunned down after being chased by plainclothes officers
An unarmed Bronx teen was fatally shot by cops after they chased him into his family’s apartment building on Thursday, police said.
Ramarley Graham, 19, was hit once in the chest after an officer fired his gun during a confrontation in the Williamsbridge apartment about 3 p.m., police said. No gun was found at the scene, cops said.
Graham was rushed to Montefiore Medical Center, where he later died.
“They chased him into the house,” said the teen’s mother, Constance Malcolm, 39, who witnessed the shooting. “Nobody deserves to be shot in their own home.”
Moments before the shooting, officers from the NYPD’s Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit spotted Graham on the street adjusting his waistband and thought he had a gun, a police source said.
But Graham — who had at least two prior arrests for marijuana and burglary — ran when cops tried to approach him, the sources said.
Cops followed the teen as he dashed toward his second-floor apartment on E. 229th St., cops said. Once inside, Graham darted toward the bathroom with two cops behind him, cops said.
The teen tussled with a cop before the officer’s gun — a Sig Sauer .9-mm — went off and a bullet pierced Graham in the upper left chest, police said.
“He had some weed on with him,” said a family friend. “It wasn’t a big deal. They shot him inside the house. ... He didn’t have a gun.”
A police source said marijuana was found inside the bathroom and that Graham may have been trying to flush it down the toilet.
Police were still investigating the incident Thursday night.
Carmen Laspina, 40, was watching TV with her three daughters when she heard cops swarming the street.
“The block was really quiet and then, suddenly, you hear all these sirens, helicopters, and I see all these cops running,” she said.
“I looked out the window, and they were putting someone in the ambulance. ... He wasn’t moving. It was scary to see somebody shot like that.”
Story is all too familiar.....
No comments:
Post a Comment