From the NY times (don't want to give them more traffic so no link):
Police Kill Bridegroom and Wound 2 in Queens
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: November 26, 2006
Hours before he was to be married, a man leaving his bachelor party at a strip club in Queens that was under police surveillance was shot and killed in a hail of police bullets early yesterday, witnesses and the police said. Two of his friends were wounded, one critically, they said.
Many circumstances of the shootings were not immediately clear, but relatives of the dead man, Sean Bell, 23, and community leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, demanded an investigation into what some called an overreaction by officers that killed a man on his wedding day.
Witnesses told of chaos, screams and gunfire near Club Kalua at 143-08 94th Avenue in Jamaica just after 4 a.m. as the victims walked out, got into their silver Nissan Altima, drove half a block, turned a corner and struck a black unmarked police minivan bearing plainclothes officers.
The car then backed up, nearly hitting an undercover officer, and shot forward, slamming again into the police van, the police said.
The police response, witnesses said, was a fusillade of bullets by five of eight officers that riddled the victims’ car, ripped into other cars and slammed through an apartment window near the shooting, on Liverpool Street near 94th Avenue. Shell casings littered the street and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said last night that 50 shots were fired.
“We can’t say with certainty why they fired,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Bell, who was to have been wed at 5 p.m. yesterday to Nicole Paultre, the mother of his two small daughters, was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The two wounded men, Joseph Guzman, 21, and Trent Benefield, 23, were taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital, where Mr. Guzman was listed in critical condition and Mr. Benefield in stable condition.
Angry relatives of the wounded men said that both had been arrested and later manacled to their hospital beds. They said that Mr. Guzman had been shot 17 times and that Mr. Benefield had been shot in the leg and handcuffed at the scene.
Mr. Sharpton said at an afternoon news conference that Mr. Guzman might have been struck by 8 to 17 bullets. “The doctor told us it was 17 wounds,” which could have included entry and exit points, he said.
The police declined to say whether any charges had been lodged and gave few details about what had happened, calling it a matter under investigation. A spokesman, however, acknowledged that five of eight officers at the scene had fired their weapons and that no guns had been found in the victims’ car, which was being examined by the authorities.
It was unclear if any officers were injured, or if any of those who fired the shots were being questioned. Legal experts said, however, that investigators, at the behest of prosecutors, almost never immediately interrogate officers involved in fatal shootings because doing so might grant a form of immunity and jeopardize later prosecutions.
“This is a shocking case,” Mr. Sharpton, a civil rights leader who has often protested police actions in high-profile and racially charged cases, said at the afternoon news conference outside Mary Immaculate Hospital, his second of the day in the case. He was flanked by relatives and friends of the victims, most of them somber and some sobbing.
Since no weapons were found in the victims’ car, Mr. Sharpton challenged the police to explain what had happened and why, and he insisted there was no basis for any charges against the wounded men.
Earlier at Jamaica hospital, Mr. Sharpton, standing with Ms. Paultre and other of the victims’ loved ones, said he had been called in by Mr. Bell’s family and had protested to the city. He added: “Something about this story doesn’t smell right.”
Ms. Paultre and Mr. Bell, who lived together at 91 Beach 27th Street in Far Rockaway, Queens, had been sweethearts since high school. Relatives said their daughters are Jordyn, 3, and Jada, 5 months old.
Mr. Sharpton said: “Today she’s planning for his funeral rather than his wedding.”
A woman who identified herself as Mr. Benefield’s mother, but did not give her name, said her son had been arrested and handcuffed after being shot. “He’s got a shattered leg,” she said. “And he’s handcuffed. Right hand, left leg.”
An aunt of Mr. Guzman, who also did not give her name, said her nephew had been shot repeatedly. “He got shot 17 times by the police,” she said. “Unbelievable. My nephew is laying up there fighting for his life, shot 17 times. It’s not right.”
Others with Mr. Sharpton included Mr. Guzman’s wife, Ebony, who was too upset to speak, and Sanford A. Rubenstein, a lawyer who has been involved in other high-profile cases involving the police and members of minority groups. He said he would represent Mr. Guzman and Mr. Benefield.
“The family doesn’t know if there are any charges, or if there will be any charges,” Mr. Rubenstein said.
After appeals by the families and some public officials, the handcuffs were removed from the men at their hospital beds.
City Councilman Thomas White Jr., of the 28th District, said he had spoken to a police inspector, Timothy Pearson of Queens Borough South, who said he was in charge, and had been assured that a full investigation would be undertaken.
“I spoke with the family members,” he said. “They want answers. They want justice.”
Marie Gillion, an aunt of Ms. Paultre, said in a telephone interview that the families of the couple had been overjoyed at the prospect of their wedding.
“Sean is a good kid,” Ms. Gillion said, choking back sobs. “His mother is a Christian, you know. We wanted them to be married. The family wanted them to be married. And for this to happen. This is so sad.”
Robert Porter, who said he was Mr. Bell’s cousin and was to have been a disc jockey at the wedding, said that 250 people had been invited to the ceremony and that many were flying in from around the country.
“I can’t really express myself,” Mr. Porter said. “It’s a numb feeling. I still don’t want to believe it. A beautiful day like this, and he was going to have a beautiful wedding, he was going to live forever with his wife and children. And this happened.”
Cara Buckley, Roja Heydarpour and Daryl Kahn contributed reporting.
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