Another Bell Shooting Witness Says There Was No ‘Fourth Man’
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

A man who calls himself a witness to the November 25 police shooting of Sean Bell in Queens, whom police sources had identified as a possible “fourth man” who may have escaped the scene, emerged yesterday to deny fleeing with a gun.
“There’s no fourth man, there’s no gun,” Jean Nelson, 27, said during a news conference at City Hall.
Standing with him, his attorney, Charles King, said his client’s statement should end speculation that an armed man was inside the car with the 23-year-old Bell the night police killed him outside a cabaret in Jamaica, Queens, in a hail of 50 bullets. “There was no fourth person in Sean Bell’s car,” he said. “There was no mysterious gunman there fleeing the scene.”
Earlier, police said officers who were at the scene reported that a fourth man, possibly armed, may have been in the car with Bell and two others the night of the shooting. No weapon has been recovered, and yesterday’s statement corroborated other witness accounts, including statements made by two of Bell’s friends who survived the shooting, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield.
Yesterday, Mr. King raised concerns about another individual at the cabaret that night who is said to have been armed and was involved in an altercation with Bell and his friends. Mr. King said undercover officers knew of that individual and “let that individual go unimpeded.”
The police department’s top spokesman, Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Paul Browne, said police have not said there was definitely a fourth man. “Any information we’ve developed since that evening has been turned over to the Queens district attorney as part of his grand jury investigation by our Internal Affairs Bureau.” A spokesman for District Attorney Richard Brown declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. However, those close to the investigation said a second round of eyewitnesses to the shooting could meet with representatives from the Queens prosecutor sometime this week.
In a separate development yesterday, members of the City Council, including Speaker Christine Quinn, Peter Vallone Jr., and Larry Seabrook, said they would hold a series of town hall meetings and hearings starting next month that are designed to improve police-community relations. Lawmakers said community members would be invited to voice concerns and suggest improvements for police operations at the meetings, which will take place in each borough.
Lawmakers said feedback would be incorporated into subsequent council hearings on topics including community policing, police monitoring, and police training and deployment.
Mr. Vallone, who heads the Public Safety Committee, stopped short of linking the meetings to Bell’s death. “Out of every tragedy, we learn essential lessons,” he said, promising to “work with communities and the NYPD to ensure such incidents don’t happen again.”
However, a source familiar with the hearings said lawmakers are concerned they could interfere with a grand jury being convened. “Many of us are concerned about a motion for a change of venue and any hearings we have may or may not affect that, so we are trying to walk a fine line here,” the source said.
Sources close to the investigation said the grand jury is not likely to be impaneled until at least January.