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February 10, 2016

NYC: Jury to Determine Fate of Officer Who Shot Akai Gurley in Dark Stairwell
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Both sides have presented their closing arguments in the manslaughter
trial of New York City police officer Peter Liang for the fatal shooting
of unarmed African American Akai Gurley. A jury will now consider the
fate of Liang, who shot Gurley in the darkened stairwell of a Brooklyn
housing project. Officer Liang said he was startled by a noise and
flinched, accidentally firing his gun. But Assistant District Attorney
Joseph Alexis said the shooting was no accident.

Joseph Alexis: "The gun did not just go off. This officer took his
finger off of the frame of the gun, if it was ever there. He put his
finger onto the trigger. He pointed the gun directly in the direction
where the sound was. And he fired. And he shot. And the shot that he
fired hit off the wall. It's no accident that it hit off the wall steps
away from where Akai Gurley stood. It's no accident that that bullet
then ripped through his heart and landed in his liver and killed him."



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