Police Shoot, Kill Teen Holding Fake Gun

A 17-year-old boy was shot to death by a police officer Thursday as he held a fake gun to the head of the officer’s undercover partner during a sting, authorities said.

The detectives were investigating recent robberies of deliverymen at an apartment building in the Hamilton Heights section of Manhattan.

Anthony Newsome was shot in a hallway as he held an imitation gun to the head of a detective dressed as a deliveryman, authorities said. The detective’s plainclothes partner fired three shots at Newsome, striking him once in the chest. Police said the officers had thought the fake gun was real.

The detectives went to the building after a manager of a nearby Wimpie’s hamburger restaurant reported a suspicious food order. Employees said staff members had been robbed at least three times in recent days as they delivered food to the building.

The shooting provoked anger from building residents, and the window of a police department vehicle was smashed. Several people were arrested.

Later Thursday, officers in Brooklyn shot and killed a man after he crashed a minivan that authorities suspected was stolen and struggled with officers. It was the fourth fatal shooting by New York police this year.

Early Wednesday, two men were fatally shot by police in Brooklyn after they were seen firing guns in separate incidents.

“It would appear in both [those] cases that police officers were acting according to regulations and using the training that they’ve received to protect the public,” New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said.