A “vertical patrol” comes to a catastrophic end
Akai Gurley was a 28-year old Brooklyn man walking down the staircase of the East New York Pink Houses apartment complex building, after getting his hair braided by his girlfriend. Probationary officer Peter Liang and his partner were on “vertical patrol”–the official phrase used to describe when several different officers are strategically placed on different floors of apartment buildings–when Liang was “startled” by a civilian (Gurley) entering the stairwell. According to a New York Post report, Liang accidentally fired his weapon, and after ricocheting off of a wall, the “accidentally discharged” bullet struck and killed the 28-year old.
NYPD Commissioner, Bill Bratton, called the man who was killed on Thursday night a “total innocent,” and had this to say about what happened in that stairwell.
What happened last night was a very unfortunate tragedy. It appears this may have been in fact an accidental discharge.
While Liang has yet to give his account of the story, several questions remain. Barring a bizarre malfunction, an officer’s gun can’t be accidentally discharged when it’s in its holster, which begs the question. Why was Liang’s gun drawn during a routine vertical patrol?
We’ll have more updates as soon as they’re made available.
