A man who pulled a gun on Newburgh City Police late Friday afternoon was shot and killed by officers.
Officers spotted a man in the area of 40 William Street at 5 p.m. who was wanted for questioning in a shooting incident that occurred the day before in the area of Benkard Avenue and William Street, said Police Chief Douglas Solomon.
When officers approached the man, he pulled a silver handgun. A struggle ensured and the handgun discharged and several officers returned fire, killing him, said Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler. One officer sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder as well as injuries to his head when the gunman struck him with his gun.
The officer was taken to the hospital for treatment. The suspect was pronounced dead at Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital.
To ensure public confidence in the integrity of the investigation, still images from a portion of one of the officer’s body-worn camera footage was released.
“Normally in an investigation of this type of incident we would not be releasing images this early in the investigation,” said Hoovler. “However, to allay community concerns, which quite frankly have been stoked by misinformation coming from a city official, we are releasing these imagines showing the armed man discharging his gun.”
Newburgh City Councilman Omari Shakur, had posted a video on Facebook saying "an unarmed black man" was shot and killed by police, who he called "pigs" and said are "killers."
“We are asking the public to be patient. We know that people want answers. We want answers as well. As the mayor, I want answers. The city council wants answers. We all want answers,” said Mayor Torrance Harvey.
Police from several agencies from Orange, Ulster and Dutchess counties, and the FBI, were called to the city because of large crowds gathering.
State Police and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the incident.
Hoovler said his office will conduct two parallel investigations into the matter. One will consist of an investigation before a grand jury. The second will be an investigation conducted within the DA’s office. He said in light of the time it takes to obtain results from scientific tests such as toxicology reports, he anticipates the investigations will take three to five months to complete.
