Police officers shot and killed a Brooklyn man as he tried to defend his family and home from burglars. The man heard what he thought was people breaking in to his home and ran downstairs in his pajamas to check if everything was alright and that’s when he was shot by police officers. The officers admitted to shooting the man because he wouldn’t put his gun down. Read more after the jump.
Cops shot and killed an armed man who relatives said was protecting his Brooklyn home from burglars Thursday night, according to reports.
Police gave few details about incident, except to confirm that cops fatally shot a man with a gun at 943 Schenck Ave. in East New York, just before 11 p.m.
The man, who the Daily News identified as Dwayne Browne, 26, thought burglars were trying to get into his home, relatives told the paper.
“It sounded like someone was trying to break in,” a woman who identified herself as the victim’s girlfriend told the paper. “He went downstairs to check it out.”
She heard a gunshot blast, and a bleeding Browne came back upstairs, the paper reported.
“He looked at me and said, ‘Baby, I’ve been shot,” she told the Daily News.
“The officers told me they had to shoot him…The officer said, ‘I’m sorry. It was one of us. But he wouldn’t put the gun down.’â€
Browne, who had a 7-year-old son, earned an Associate’s degree for a pharmacy program, the paper reported. He was working as a floor installer, his family told the News.
Early Friday, Browne’s relatives had still not been allowed back in the home.
City Councilman Charles Barron, a frequent critic of the NYPD, lashed out against the cops.
“This is ridiculous. You’re investigating the robbery of a house and guys are running away. Why would you not chase them?” he said at the scene. “He’s coming down in his pajamas. He clearly can’t be the robber.”
Barron also suggested that the NYPD may be withholding crucial details about what happened.
“We want the truth,” he added. “Tell the truth of what happened.”
