Felix Kumi of Mount Vernon, NY was the innocent victim of an undercover gun buy that went bad
Felix Kumi, 61, was out for a walk Friday afternoon in his Mount Vernon, NY neighborhood when he was shot and died. Mr. Kumi was not the victim of a gangbanger or a mugger. He was the victim of two errand shots fired by an NYPD undercover cop during a gun buy gone bad.
Here is how the Associated Press described what happened:
28-year-old Jeffrey Aristy of the Bronx contacted an officer Friday saying he had guns for sale, authorities said. When an undercover officer met him in the Bronx, Aristy entered the officer's unmarked car and told him to drive to a residential neighborhood in Mount Vernon, police said.
When they arrived there around 4 p.m., another man hopped in the back seat, pointed a gun at the officer's head and demanded money, police said. The undercover officer handed cash to the second man before signaling for backup and confronting him in the street, where the officer began firing when the man pointed his gun at him, police said.
The 37-year-old gunman was struck three times in the torso while another bullet struck Kumi, police said. The gunman, whose identity was not immediately released, was taken to a hospital. Aristy, the target of the undercover probe, was arrested on drugs and weapons charges.
Mr. Kumi was not only the victim of two errand shots, but he was also the victim of bad luck and poor shooting by a cop.
First of all, I’m not blaming the cop for what he did. The gunman pointed a gun at him and the cop rightly fired away. But cops are notoriously poor shots in real life-or-death situations – as opposed to shooting on the police firing range – and tend to keep firing until the person posing the threat goes down. That means there are usually a lot of rounds fired with some bullets flying errantly past the intended target.
There have been many gun battles in the streets during which no innocent bystanders have been wounded or killed. That’s just plain good luck. Poor old Felix had no such luck.
Look for NYC to come up with a substantial settlement to the Kumi family after they file a wrongful death lawsuit .
1 comment:
Nationwide only about 40% of the shots fired by cops hit their intended target. That means 60% go somewhere else. Usually the hit nothing valuable. Unfortunately this is one of those times that was not the case.
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