A chorus of elected Democratic officials and community leaders criticized the leading Democratic mayoral candidate, Fernando Ferrer, yesterday after Mr. Ferrer changed his position on the shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

Almost immediately after Mr. Ferrer remarked on Tuesday that the police who shot Diallo with a hail of bullets did not commit a crime, city politicians accused the candidate of inconsistency on a highly sensitive issue. Mr. Ferrer, as they point out, played a role in the mass demonstrations against alleged police brutality that took place after the four police officers involved in the shooting were acquitted in 2000.

Rep. Charles Rangel, the dean of the New York congressional delegation, said yesterday that Mr. Ferrer had made a silly political blunder while attempting to court police officers. “It’s a shame when you lose credibility when you can’t pick up anything politically for it,” Mr. Rangel told the Associated Press yesterday.

“I’m concerned,” Reverend Al Sharpton told The New York Sun. Mr. Sharpton marched side-by-side with Mr. Ferrer in protesting the shooting of Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant who was fired on 41 times by police officers and struck with 19 bullets outside his home in the Bronx in February 1999.

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Ferrer met with the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a union of about 10,000 retired and active police sergeants, about half of whom are estimated to vote in New York. During the meeting, Mr. Ferrer was asked by one sergeant in the audience if he considered the shooting of Diallo a tragedy accident or a crime.

“I don’t believe it was a crime,” Mr. Ferrer said. “Do I believe there was an attempt by many, in a lot of places, to overindict? Sure.”

Mr. Sharpton said he planned to meet privately last night with Mr. Ferrer and his chief political consultant, the lobbyist Roberto Ramirez.

Mr. Ferrer “has earned the benefit of the doubt for us to hear exactly what he is saying, and exactly what his position is,” Mr. Sharpton said.

Reaction to Mr. Ferrer’s comments may present a challenge to his campaign in future months, experts said, as the former Bronx borough president attempts to maintain support among minority communities.

The Bronx district attorney, Robert Johnson, also questioned Mr. Ferrer’s consistency on other criminal justice issues, and a member of the City Council from Brooklyn, Charles Barron, called Mr. Ferrer’s statements regarding Diallo a “disgrace and outrage.”

The uproar regarding the comments, political analysts said yesterday, could provide another mayoral candidate, the Manhattan borough president, C. Virginia Fields, a chance to break out of the clogged Democratic field and win over many of Mr. Ferrer’s supporters.

Widespread support among minorities – along with liberal whites – are key for Mr. Ferrer to win the Democratic primary this fall.

In a four-way primary race for mayor in 2001, 52% of Mr. Ferrer’s votes came from African-Americans, according to exit polls at the time.

Critics said yesterday that his comments were dramatically inconsistent with Mr. Ferrer’s actions and previous statements regarding the Diallo shooting. Mr. Ferrer was arrested with Mr. Sharpton and others for civil disobedience during the Diallo protests. He featured photographs of himself in handcuffs on his campaign literature during the 2001 campaign.

Mr. Ferrer also called for the firing of the four police officers who fired at Diallo and continued the call for their dismissals after they were acquitted.

Hours after his comments on Tuesday, Mr. Ferrer issued a statement insisting that his position on the Diallo shooting had not wavered. While he felt the made the right decision to protest the police, Mr. Ferrer said in the statement he respected the jury’s verdict.

“It is past time that we allow the wounds of this city to heal,” Mr. Ferrer said in the statement, “and encourage the police and the communities they serve to work in common cause together.”

Ms. Fields, 58, who also participated in many of the marches against the police and began an informational newsletter called “Diallo Watch,” criticized Mr. Ferrer’s characterization of the Diallo shooting and reiterated her position that 41 shots against an unarmed man is a crime, not an accident.

“Freddy has a lot of questions to answer; namely, why and how he came to these conclusions,” Ms. Fields said yesterday.

Mr. Ferrer was not immediately available for comment yesterday.

A spokesman for the Ferrer campaign, Chad Clanton, insisted Mr. Ferrer’s position has been consistent. “This was a horrific incident in New York history,” Mr. Clanton said about the Diallo shooting. “Throughout his career, Freddy has said that a jury’s verdict must be respected, and he stands by it.”

Another elected official, the Bronx district attorney, Robert Johnson, also issued a statement critical of Mr. Ferrer. “While I consider Mr. Ferrer to be a friend, who also was an excellent borough president, my recollection is that this is not the first time that he has changed his position on a significant case or criminal-justice issue,” Mr. Johnson said.

That last sentiment is a swipe at Mr. Ferrer’s claim that the 1997 shooting of a Washington Heights teenager, Kevin Cedeno, was “an execution” by police. Mr. Ferrer later softened his stance, saying the shooting wasn’t premeditated.