Shooting in Queens draws mayor’s rebuke

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Monday said that police who shot three unarmed men -- riddling their car with 50 rounds -- had used “excessive force,” but he urged angry citizens to wait for facts to emerge from an investigation.

Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly spent much of the morning listening to complaints from the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), and about 20 clergymen and elected officials from Queens, which was home to Sean Bell.

Bell, 23, was killed early Saturday morning as he left his bachelor party, held at a strip club that police were monitoring for illicit activities. He was to be married later that day. Two other men in the car were wounded, one critically.

“To me, it is unacceptable and inexplicable how you have 50-odd shots fired, but that’s for the investigation to find out what happened,” Bloomberg said at a news conference after the meeting.

He went on, though, to pledge his loyalty to Kelly, whom he called “the best police commissioner this city has ever had.” The mayor also said that he does not believe the shooting was racially motivated, and should not be seen as an indicator that racial tension is on the rise in New York.

Two of the shooting victims were black and one was Latino. Of the officers involved, two were white, one was Latino and two were black. All five were suspended Sunday.

“I don’t think most people have lost confidence in the police department,” Bloomberg said. “I think most people understand that this city is very different than it used to be today. Community-police and interracial relations are infinitely better than they have been. Are they perfect? No.”

Bell’s shooting, which occurred at 4:15 a.m., prompted an angry rally Sunday by Sharpton and other leaders, some of whom called for Kelly to resign. As they filed out of the meeting Monday, several community leaders said they were satisfied that Bloomberg had made the shooting a priority.

The mayor’s handling of the situation was a striking departure from the style of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who waited weeks to meet with black leaders after the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo; the West African immigrant was shot 41 times by officers who said they believed he was drawing a gun.

The Rev. James Deleston, the pastor of Mount Moriah Church in Harlem, said his parishioners were “outraged” by incidents of police brutality. He said he would tell them that he got “a very good feeling” meeting with Bloomberg and police officials. Such a dialogue, he said, “would never have emanated from the Giuliani administration.”

Sharpton said it was too early to compare the two mayors.

“Let’s see what the results are,” he said. “We are not just interested in being treated politely. We are interested in being treated fairly and rightly.”

Bell was planning to marry his longtime girlfriend Saturday afternoon, and went with a group of friends to Kalua Cabaret -- the site of eight arrests in the last year for prostitution, weapons and drug charges. Two undercover officers were inside the bar, prepared to document one more violation, which would result in the club’s closure.

As Bell and his friends left the nightclub, according to police, an undercover officer heard one of the group make a threat and another say: “Yo, go get my gun.” As Bell prepared to drive away, an armed undercover officer approached the car on foot, and Bell struck him, injuring his shin; the car then lurched forward to hit an unmarked police minivan that had pulled in front of it.

At that point, the five officers began shooting at the car. Police later searched the car and did not recover any weapons.

One of the central questions that remained unanswered Monday was whether the undercover officer identified himself when he approached Bell’s car. Bloomberg said it was clear that at least one violation of police procedure had occurred, because officers are instructed not to fire on vehicles being used as weapons.

Philip Karasyk, a lawyer with the Detectives Endowment Assn. who is representing one of the officers, said that when the facts come to light, they will show the five officers “had a well-founded belief that they were about to be met with lethal force, that one of the people in that car had a weapon and was about to use it.”

Karasyk said the undercover officer clearly identified himself to Bell, and showed his shield. He said the officers plan to cooperate with the district attorney without requesting immunity.

“None of these guys have ever fired their weapon before,” he said. “Between them, they have hundreds of arrests, including gun collars.... They’re not wild men.”

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ellen.barry@latimes.com