Bride-To-Be-Sobs…‘THEY MURDERED HIM'

&#8220They murdered him.”
These were the emotional words of a sobbing Nicole Paultre, the grieving bride-to-be, to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown on Monday, November 27 as the DA met with community leaders and family members of Sean Bell, the 23-year-old prospective groom killed by a barrage of 50 police bullets just hours before he was to be wed.
In the days following the November 25 incident - in which two other men, Trent Benefield, 23, and Joseph Guzman, 31, were also seriously injured - the people of Jamaica, and of the city at large, have been polarized.
&#8220There’s no question about it; this is not a crime, this is an execution,” said Bishop Lester Williams, the clergyman who was to marry the couple. &#8220He was a very courteous young man. He had an aspiring life ahead of him.”
Williams, who had the marriage license for the wedding he was supposed to perform, instead spoke about having to get a death certificate for Bell, who has two daughters, ages 3 and five months old, with Paultre.
&#8220It's a horrible situation,” he said.
In rallies and protests led by Rev. Al Sharpton and southeast Queens politicians, including Senator Malcolm Smith, many called for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly's resignation.
Nevertheless, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also met with community leaders on November 27 said, &#8220I have complete confidence in our police commissioner. He will be the police commissioner for the rest of my term.”
&#8220I think he is the best police commissioner that this city has ever had, and I think he has done a masterful job in training and diversifying our police department.”
At a press conference, Bloomberg conceded that the five police officers who fired 50 rounds in the undercover operation gone wrong used &#8220excessive force” in the shooting.
&#8220Mayor Bloomberg's pronouncement that excessive force was used is premature and not based on a full and proper investigation of the facts,” said Patrolman's Benevolence Association (PBA) President Patrick J. Lynch. &#8220Only the detectives and police officers who fired their weapons can explain the circumstances under which they took action and they have not yet been heard.”
Both Bloomberg and Kelly have said that the undercover cops, including an Hispanic officer who fired the first shot and ten more and white Detective Mike Oliver, who fired 31 shots, white Officer Mike Carey, who fired three times, and two black cops one of whom fire four times and the other fired one round, broke NYPD regulations.
&#8220We stress, when officers go to the range, that they fire no more than three rounds,” Kelly said. &#8220And, then, they look.”
Kelly went on to say, NYPD officers are prohibited from firing at vehicles, even if they are utilized as weapons.
According to reports, the cops - none of whom had ever fired previously - had been undercover in the Kalua Cabaret on 94th Street patrolling for sex and drugs as the shooting victims were celebrating Bell’s bachelor party.
One officer, in order to maintain his cover, had two beers, which is according to NYPD regulations.
The victims allegedly mistook the officers for robbers and left. They were followed outside, where the gold Nissan Altima driven by Bell repeatedly collided with the officers' gray Ford minivan and clipped one of the undercover officers, who was on foot. He then allegedly saw Guzman reach for what he thought was a gun, and he began firing.
In what Kelly is calling &#8220contagious shooting,” a lieutenant overseeing the operation ducked inside the Toyota Camry he had been driving. Two of his colleagues riding with him exited the car and began firing.
In a statement issued immediately following the incident, Brown said, &#8220We know that the NYPD officers on the scene had reason to believe that an altercation involving a firearm was about to happen and were trying to stop it.”
Later it was determined that none of the victims had a weapon.
Bell was shot four times, including once in the neck. Guzman was hit 11 times and Benefield three times. All of the Nissan's windows were shattered in the fray, and one of the windows of the Jamaica Air Train station was hit.
&#8220They [the cops] never identified themselves,” said Roy Brown, who was at the scene of the shooting early Saturday morning.
&#8220My son was shot in both his legs and his butt and he has scrapes on his head from where they dragged him on the ground,” said Benefield's mother, Denise Ford.
All the officers have been placed on paid administrative leave.
&#8220I'm looking for the officers to be charged,” said Williams.
On Tuesday, November 28, four of them came forward to say that they will testify before a Grand Jury without immunity.
Brown has pledged that his office's investigation, which will be independent of the NYPD's, &#8220will be fair and impartial - and thorough and complete.”
&#8220I want to extend my deepest condolences to the families of Sean Bell, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie.
&#8220I can only imagine the pain they must be experiencing at this time.
My heart goes out especially to Sean’s parents, fiance and children, who have to endure such a tragedy under the worst circumstances. This city owes it to the Bell family to insure that everyone responsible for this is held accountable.”
&#8220No one gives anybody the right to kill somebody, to take someone's life,” said Paultre in published reports. &#8220They don't know what they've done. What pain they've caused to this family. To my kids.”
On Wednesday, November 29, relatives of Sean Bell, along with the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, visited both the Kalua Cabaret and the scene of the fatal shooting around the corner on Liverpool Avenue.
Crying out, &#8220Hallelujah” and &#8220I love you,” Bell's mother, Valerie, wept outside the nightclub on 94th Avenue.
And at the makeshift memorial of candles, flowers photos, and cards, Sharpton told the media, &#8220We come this morning with the family in their hour of grief.”
Sharpton added that the Bell family would continue to seek justice for the slain groom-to-be.
&#8220We're going shopping for justice while folks are going shopping for the holidays.”
Following the visit to the site by relatives of Bell, friends and family members of Joseph Guzman also placed a photo at the memorial - depicting Guzman with his girlfriend of 16 years, Eboni Browning, and the couple's son, Juan Guzman. And Guzman's sister, Yolanda, also separately visited the memorial, breaking into tears when questioned by reporters.
&#8220This is my first time here,” she said. &#8220I have been at my brother's hospital bed, and after this I am going right back.”