Police shooting leaves groom dead, two injured

BY DEBORAH S. MORRIS | NEWSDAY STAFF WRITERS

12:01 AM EST, November 26, 2006

In a fusillade of 50 gunshots, undercover police officers shot and killed a Queens man who had been celebrating at his bachelor's party and shot and injured two of his friends after the three left a Jamaica strip club early Saturday morning, police said.

Circumstances before and during the shooting, just after 4 a.m. near the Kalua Cabaret at 143-08 94th Ave. in Jamaica, remained murky late Saturday night.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, at a 7:30 p.m. news conference, said the shots were fired by five officers. Asked if the shootings were justified, he said, "We're not in a position to characterize the shooting at this time."

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said there "will be a full, fair and complete investigation of this incident. . . . I would urge everyone to withhold judgment as well until all the facts are known."

Men weren't armed

Sean Bell, 23, of Far Rockaway, who had planned to marry his longtime girlfriend in an Ozone Park restaurant Saturday night, was shot in the neck and arm. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he died.

Bell's two friends were at Mary Immaculate Hospital. Joseph Guzman, 31, who Kelly said has 11 gunshot wounds, was in critical condition. Trent Benfield, 23, was shot three times and was in stable condition. Both are from Queens.

None of the three were armed.

Two police officers were taken to local hospitals. One was treated and released for an abrasion to his right shin, and another was held for observation at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. Two Port Authority officers -- they worked at the AirTrain across the street, at the Long Island Rail Road's Jamaica terminal -- were treated and released for minor facial injuries from flying glass from vehicles at the scene.

Throughout the day, family members, the Rev. Al Sharpton and local elected officials expressed outrage and bewilderment and called for answers.

"We don't want any cover-up on either side of this," Sharpton said Saturday night outside the Far Rockaway home that Bell shared with his fiancee, Nicole Paultre, 22, and their two young daughters. He said police had incomplete information and were presenting an incomplete version of events.

Sharpton said a prayer vigil and rally would be held Sunday at noon in a park across the street from Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica.

Police did not issue a report about the shooting, a departure from standard practice, and would make no official comment throughout the day.

"It's confusing as hell," said one police supervisor involved in the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A hot spot for trouble

The officers -- all in plainclothes -- were part of a team led by a lieutenant, carrying out what the police supervisor described as a joint narcotics/vice operation targeting the club, he said.

The supervisor said police have interviewed cops who were there but did not fire their weapons. Their accounts conflict, he said.

"It's not intentional," the supervisor said. "It's just one guy saying he didn't see anything. Another guy saying he wasn't in position. Another guy saying he only heard things."

Kelly, at his news conference, said the Kalua club had been a hot spot for trouble. "It had a chronic history of narcotics, prostitution and weapons complaints," he said.

Just before the shooting, Kelly said, one undercover officer in the club overheard a dancer who worked there complaining to a man that a patron was bothering her. The man she complained to patted his waist, Kelly said.