Saheed Vassell's Death Spurs Rally On Crown Heights Corner

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — New Yorkers will rally on the corner where Saheed Vassell, a man who reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder, was shot dead by police who mistakenly believed he had a gun.

Hundreds of people are expected to rally on Utica Avenue and Montgomery Street where Vassell, 34, was shot dead by NYPD officers responding to 911 calls at about 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, according to the rally’s Facebook event page.

“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!”

Five officers — three plain clothes and two in uniform — fired 10 rounds at Vassell after receiving reports that he was waving a gun at people walking on the street, according to NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan.

The officers saw Vassell take "a two-hand shooting stance" and point what was later revealed to be a metal pipe with a knob at the end of it, Monahan said.

Vassell died later that night at Kings County Hospital, police said.

Now organizers from NYC Shut It Down — an activist group against formed in response the deaths of Eric Garner and Mike Brown — plan to gather where Vassell was killed to speak out against a police response family, friends and witnesses say was unnecessarily violent.

“[Vassell would] just walk around the neighborhood and help people,” his father, Eric Vassell, told the New York Times, adding that his son was the father of a 15-year-old son and suffered from bipolar disorder.

Witness Jaccbot Hinds, 40, told the Daily News that the officers jumped out of an unmarked police car and fired at Vassell without giving him any warning.

“It’s almost like they did a hit,” Hinds said. “They didn’t say please. They didn’t say put your hands up, nothing.”

And Fee Andrews, a local who said she’s known Vassell for 12 years, questioned why he had been shot repeatedly.

“Why both of them had to shot him 10 times,” she wrote on the rally’s Facebook page. “How many shots it took before he fall?”

The shooting was also condemned by Legal Defense and Educational Fund president Sherrilyn Ifill who called out Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill for police's treatment of people with mental health issues.

"We’re left wondering what’s changed as NYPD officers have once again killed an innocent New Yorker struggling with mental health issues," Ifill said in a statement.

"We refuse to allow this to continue. Every New Yorker – and especially our elected officials - must demand more from the NYPD."

The rally is slated to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday evening on the corner of Utica Avenue and Montgomery Street. For more information, visit the NYC Shut It Down Facebook page.

Photo courtesy of the NYPD