Teenager Slain by Police Said To Beckon Death

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The New York Sun

A teenager who was killed by police gunfire last night in Brooklyn told his mother in the hour leading up to the shooting that he was prepared to die, police sources said today.

The mother of 18-year-old Khiel Coppin, who was shot by police at about 7:15 p.m. in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, told investigators that her son put a black object in his pants after she placed a 911 call seeking help in a domestic dispute. Dispatchers overheard Coppin shouting that he had a gun during the emergency call, police said.

When officers arrived, Coppin confronted them outside of the family’s apartment building at 590 Gates Ave., police said. As Coppin advanced, officers shouted at him to get down on the ground. Coppin refused and attempted to remove an object from his waistband that officers believed was a pistol, police sources said.

Five police officers, including two sergeants and a detective, shot at Coppin 20 times, police said. The object was later found to be a hairbrush.

Some witnesses said that Coppin complied with police. Andre Sanchez, 17, who witnessed the shooting, said that police shot Coppin after he put his hands in the air.

Protesters gathered outside of Coppin’s home this morning, moving just after noon to the Bedford Stuyvesant police precinct.

At times the protest turned angry. Several protesters said the shooting brought back memories of Sean Bell, an unarmed man who was killed in a flurry of fifty police gunshots last November.

“Our boys are dying in the streets, its no time for calm,” an activist, Calvin Hunt, said. “You can’t think you can just come and gun us down. We’ll be here every day.”

Councilman Charles Barron, who is a vocal critic of the police department’s treatment of minorities, said the shooting could have been prevented.

“It’s not what the mother said on the phone,” Mr. Barron said. “It’s how you behave when you get to that scene.”

The chief of staff for Rep. Ed Towns of Brooklyn, Albert Wiltshire, sought to calm protesters outside of Coppin’s apartment building. “Until we get all the facts, we ask you all to remain calm,” Mr. Wiltshire said. “We beg and implore you all to remain calm.

Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network is speaking on behalf of the family and plans to address the public at 4 p.m. outside of the Kings County Medical Examiner’s Office.


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