New York police shoot unarmed man in Brooklyn

New York police shot and killed an unarmed man Wednesday afternoon, sparking criticism from neighbors who said the officers should have known he wasn’t a threat. Police confronted Saheed Vassell, 34, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn after three people called 911 to report a man pointing a silver weapon at people on the street. “The suspect took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object at the approaching officers, two of whom were in uniform,” NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan later told reporters. Four of the five officers at the scene fired a total of 10 rounds, striking and killing Vassell. The object he pointed at the officers turned out to be a “pipe with some sort of knob at the end,” Monahan said. Police had previous encounters with Vassell and described him as emotionally disturbed. But neighbors said he didn’t pose a threat and the officers who regularly patrolled the neighborhood knew that.