Attorney General To Investigate NYPD Shooting Of Saheed Vassell

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office will investigate the death of Saheed Vassell — the Crown Heights man shot dead Wednesday by police officers who mistakenly believed he had a gun — and Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to release relevant 911 call transcripts and surveillance footage.

Schneiderman took to Twitter Thursday morning just hours after NYPD officers fired 10 rounds at 34-year-old Vassell, who family members said suffered from bipolar disorder.

"My office's Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit has opened an investigation into the death of Saheed Vassell," Schneiderman wrote. "We're committed to conducting an independent, comprehensive, and fair investigation."

Hours later, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised the city that NYPD investigators would release all surveillance footage and 911 recording transcripts, which he said did not include warnings that Vassell suffered from mental illness.

"People in the community thought he had a weapon and was aiming it at residents," said the Mayor at a press conference in Queens Thursday morning. "Calls did not say he was mentally ill; cops only understood someone was aiming the weapon."

"There's a human tragedy here," de Blasio added. "And we're gonna be as transparent as we can, understanding there will be a formal and full investigation."

These declarations from the mayor and attorney general came amid cries of outrage from locals and activists who accused the police of using excessive force against a man who, according to family members, suffered from bipolar disorder.

"We're left wondering what's changed as NYPD officers have once again killed an innocent New Yorker struggling with mental health issues," said Legal Defense and Educational Fund president Sherrilyn Ifill.

"Every New Yorker – and especially our elected officials - must demand more from the NYPD."

Organizers from NYC Shut It Down — an activist group against formed in response the deaths of Eric Garner and Mike Brown — have planned a rally for Thursday night on Utica Avenue and Montgomery Street, where Vassell was shot at 10 times by police officers Wednesday afternoon.

"Saheed Vassell, an unarmed Black man was murdered by NYPD Wednesday night," NYC Shut It Down organizers wrote. "Join us as we demand justice for Saheed Vassell. Black Lives Matter!"

The NYPD officers who shot Vassell were responding to 911 calls reporting a man waving a gun at people walking down the street, according to NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan.

They fired when they saw Vassell take "a two-hand shooting stance" and point what they believed was a gun, but was later revealed to be a metal pipe with a knob at the end of it, Monahan said.

The shooting raised questions among family members and local residents who remembered Vassell as a caring father and a friendly neighborhood character.

"He cared for everybody … You would never catch him down," his 15-year-old son Tyshawn told the New York Daily News. "This is what our society has come to."

"Why both of them had to shot him 10 times," Fee Andrews, who said she'd known Vassell for 12 years, wrote on the rally's Facebook page. "How many shots it took before he fall?"

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Reporting contributed by Patch editor Noah Manskar.

Photo courtesy of the NYPD