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Undercover Cop Fatally Shoots Brooklyn Man During Drug Bust

2009_07undercovershooting.jpg A 49-year-old handyman who was up from Pennsylvania visiting his sick mother in Clinton Hill was shot last night by an undercover cop in a separate drug bust that went awry. Shem Walker had just finished cooking his family dinner when he told them that was going out to buy cigarettes in the Brooklyn neighborhood around 8 p.m.

Details still seem unclear, but according to the Post, the father of two "confronted a plainclothes officer from the Brooklyn North Narcotics squad." The News says that Walker hit the cop with an unknown object while the officer was serving as a backup on a nearby drug sting. There is no indication that Walker was carrying a gun when he was shot by the officer in the head and the chest. A witness told the Post, "We heard a low mumbling sound, like someone was talking to someone.Then we heard 'No, don't!' and then we heard a gun shot."

Walker, a 15-year retired army veteran, was visiting his mother at a brownstone the family owned at 370 Lafayette Avenue. He worked as a handyman and sometimes did work on the house. His sister said, "He was a good person. He really was. He had a heart of gold." His brother called him "the greatest guy in the world."

Internal Affairs and the Brooklyn DA are investigating the shooting. The Times has received several reports from nearby locals, one of whom wrote, "Dude looked pretty dead, laying out for a few minutes with a couple cops standing around, then about 30 cops after 5 minutes."

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Comments [rss]

  • sexisicilian

    WHERE IS AL SHARPTON?? THE COP & DEAD MAN WERE BOTH BLACK?! I BET MY WHITE ASS IF THE COP WERE WHITE, HE WOULD BE ALL OVER THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • JacqueMehoff

    councilwoman leticia james was with the family.

    and she commented on the black officer who shot mr. walker.

  • sexisicilian

    AGAIN, WHERE IS AL SHARPTON???????? THE COP & THE DEAD MAN WERE BOTH BLACK?? WHAT A SHOCKER, I BET MY WHITE ASS IF THE COP WAS WHITE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN ALL OVER THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • sixthreeone

    Ah, Gothamist readers, so quick to judge, so eager to blame the cops...



    Do a little research, read up on the situation and maybe you will see it is not as cut and dry as I know you all wish it would be:



    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/nyregion/13shoot.html?hpw



    Get with the program. Here the cops are, responding to reports that there is drug dealing in the area, doing the "police work" you all constantly berate them for not doing while they "harass people on the subway" and "violate the rights of street performers" pretending to be batman and superman...and you STILL jump on their case. Working undercover narcotics is exceedingly dangerous, as this clearly illustrates.



    So go ahead, complain, cry foul play, blame Giuliani, Bloomberg, do whatever. Until you walk a mile in the shoes of these cops, you are never going to understand how quickly situations fall apart and lead to violence, and you will never know of the split second decisions police officers in NYC, in every state in the US, and in every country of the world need to make on a daily basis.

  • yg

    The cop was trespassing. He didn't have a warrant, he didn't display a badge. In all fairness, he's lucky the guy didn't come out with a shotgun.

  • Snoopy

    And here I thought Clinton Hill was an up and coming neighborhood. They said the same thing back in the late sixties when I went to Pratt.



    Call it what you want, it's basically west Bed Stuy. If they bulldozed sixteen blocks east of Classon, then maybe the area might improve.

  • freddynyc

    Whoa, so you ARE a racist old fart - go figure....

  • felixthecat2

    those who hate animals also hate people. Snoopy needs his wife and a brown bag to release all his frustrations.

  • Homer2323

    He is a scumbag convicted felon on parole after doing 3 years in PA. Was a scumbag convicted felon on parole I mean. Tries to be a tough guy, and now he is just another dead perp.



    "The officer was sitting last night at about 8 p.m. on the stoop of 370 Lafayette, and another undercover officer was posted next door outside of 368 Lafayette, Mr. Browne said. The officer whose weapon discharged is, like Mr. Walker, black, a police statement said.



    Then Mr. Walker emerged from his building, and encountered the undercover officer on his stoop.



    “There is some statement to tell him” — meaning Mr. Walker to the police officer — “to get off the stoop and he starts pummeling him in the back of his head,” said Mr. Browne. Mr. Walker said “get out of here or I will move you myself,” according to Mr. Browne.



    The second undercover, next door at 368 Lafayette, saw what was happening and went to assist, Mr. Browne said. But by then, the first undercover had stood up and was struck in the face, ­on the bridge of his nose, by Mr. Walker, Mr. Browne said. The two men then fell to the street, he said. The officer later needed two stitches to close the wound, Mr. Browne said.



    Mr. Browne said Mr. Walker was grabbed from behind by the shoulders by the second undercover who had just come to assist, when the first undercover who had been struck pulled out his weapon, a Smith and Wesson 9 millimeter, Mr. Browne said. “Walker grabs the gun with two hands,” Mr. Browne said.



    The gun was fired twice, he said. One round hit Mr. Walker in the left side of his chest, he said.

  • theboneranger



    Thanks for the the spin, Sgt. Rolltide. Let us know what the other boys in blue think about it as well when you get back the station on Monday morning.

  • Spirit of 76

    He's not a sarge. He lists his job as "Sothebys" [sic] in his profile. Probably security, a rent-a-cop who couldn't get into NYPD. Yet someone who automatically believes everything that comes out of the mouth of a police spokesman or Pat Lynch.

  • JacqueMehoff

    the ole the victim grabbed for the gun and it went off excuse.

  • Spirit of 76

    Good, old Rolltide. You can always expect him/her to rise to the defense of cops on Gothamist.



    I would guess the poor guy was doing what his relative says he often did, trying to shoo away someone hanging out in front of the building. The cop probably refused to identify himself, trying to keep the undercover operation intact, and Walker may have noticed the cop concealed carrying and assumed the worst, leading to a scuffle and his death. Just unfortunate decisions all around.

  • JacqueMehoff

    a 15 year veteran does not become a low life.

    he's a homeowner and a veteran of 15 Years.

    why does the NYPD hates United States Veterans so much?

    let's hear about this low life trigger happy cop.

  • Loulou

    full story?

  • Homer2323

    He is a low life piece of shit who hit a cop in the head with a wrench, then got shot in the face..and now he is dead. How many fucking stories are we going to have about people fighting with the police? Guess who loses? Not the cops.

  • NannyState

    How do you know it was a wrench? Will that be in the police report?

  • JacqueMehoff

    the city and the NYPD will do all it can to smear the victim. see tactics of ghouliani.

    he's the homeowner of said building. and has other buildings and works as a handyman. maybe the building needed some work done?

    and it happened at 8pm, not yet dark. except the color of his skin.

  • catsinvasion

    ACAB

  • Snoopy

    I'm sure he came all the way in from Pennsylvania just to cook dinner for his sick mother.



    Read the article. It appears this do gooder ain't so snowy white after all.



    "Walker had no criminal record in New York, but sources said he had convictions on drug-related charges in Pennsylvania."

  • theboneranger



    CPR = Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect.



    Always trust our fine boys in blue to take care of us.



    Can they please stop painting that slogan on cop cars? It's a waste of money and by now its really just an insult to everyone's intelligence.

  • Doctor Memory

    Well, at least it was worth it. I'm sure that the undercover drug bust the police were working on was going to finally stop the scourge of drugs in this country once and for all.



    ...it did, right?

  • boomshanka

    sounds like the police shooting at the distinguished wakamba a few years back. cops fucked this up, we can be sure their report will be a load of shit.

  • Bort

    The NYPD is eventually going to need to start issuing slingshots instead of guns like they do to the crooked cops in Tijuana.

  • rcltrh

    The only thing worse than a dirty cop is a dangling/misplaced modifier.



    "Walker hit the cop, who was serving as a backup on a nearby drug sting with an unknown object."





    What kind of drug sting involves an unknown object? Or was that with what he supposedly hit the dirty cop?

  • BillyParker

    Thanks—tried to clear that up.

  • freddynyc

    Dude looked pretty dead, laying out for a few minutes with a couple cops standing around..





    Yep, make sure the witness is dead - scumbags...

  • suepart

    "Brooklyn Man Almost Gets Smoked While Getting Smokes"

  • Bort

    Uh...dude got smoked.

  • JacqueMehoff

    where's the Mayor?

    what are they hiding again,

    and why does the NYPD hates United States Veterans?

  • Sir Bonkers

    Cops are too nervous when they're undercover.

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