Kelly Defends NYPD Shooting Of Teen With Hairbrush

Young Brooklyn Man Heard Screaming, 'I've Got A Gun!' On 911 Tape; Ignored Officer's Directions To Surrender
WCBSTV
Nov. 14, 2007

NEW YORK (CBS) ― The Brooklyn teenager who was shot and killed Monday by NYPD officers while carrying a hairbrush had pulled the concealed brush out from under his clothing and aimed it at officers as if it were a gun, causing officers to open fire, Commissioner Ray Kelly said Tuesday.

Kheil Coppin, 18, was pronounced dead after being shot eight times amid a flurry of 20 bullets.

Police say the incident began after Coppin, who is mentally disturbed, got into a dispute with his mother, Denise Owens, who then called police. When she called 911, the teen could be heard in the background claiming he had a gun.

"I got a gun and I'm gonna shoot you," Coppin shouted during the call.

Owens told the operator, "This ... you know ... this kid is a problem. You can even hear him?"

Later on, Coppin said multiple times: "I've got a (expletive) gun!"

When officers arrived at the home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, they could see Coppin pacing around inside the apartment, while his mother was outside.

That's when they say he started screaming from the window in his building along Gates Ave. before climbing out and crossing the sidewalk, keeping one hand under his shirt. According to police, he was ordered to stop and put his hands in the air, but refused.

After climbing down from the window, Kelly said that Coppin continued to ignore multiple directions to put his hands up, and instead moved toward police while still holding his hand under his shirt, as if he was holding something.

Kelly said 10 witnesses all corroborated that report.

When Coppin continued to ignore those direction and moved closer to police, he eventually pulled his hand out from his shirt and pointed the object, a black hairbrush, at the officers, aiming it as if it were it were a gun.

That's when five officers opened fire, shooting 20 times and striking Coppin eight times.

Kelly defending their actions. "This shooting appears to be within department guidlines," he said.

Multiples notes with various scribbled messages relating to death were also found in Coppin's pockets afterward.

Kelly said that Coppin's mother told police when they arrived that she didn't think her son had a gun.

Neighbor Andre Sanchez, who said he saw the incident unfold, tells CBS 2 that Coppin appeared as if he was surrendering.

"He came out his window, looked at them, then he came out and stood on his window sill. Police are saying, 'Get down, get down.' He's just looking," Sanchez says. "He jumped to the ground, came out of the gate, dropped his brush. I don't know from where he dropped his brush, [but he] put his hands up, then they just started shooting at him.

A neighbor who was leaving the building at the time of the incident told CBS 2 HD she heard Owens repeatedly warning others that "he got a gun, he got a gun."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the circumstances of how it occurred is under investigation. "What is clear is that no matter what happened, a young man is dead and that's a tragedy no matter how you describe it," he said.

According to police, Coppin's mother tried to have him hospitalized earlier in the day. Coppin has a history of mental illness.

Kelly said that Coppin's mother had told police that her son was suicidal, and at one point had even taken a tape dispenser, placed it under his shirt, and told his mother, "I'm prepared to die."

"She had called the hospital to get some help for her son and the only form of recourse was to call the police department," said Taharka Robinson, a spokesperson the National Action Network, the civil rights group led by Rev. Al Sharpton.

On Tuesday afternoon, the group said it will launch its own investigation into the shooting.

Community leaders are also demanding answers.

"I don't care whether they are black, Latino, or white, when they join the force most of them turn blue," said City Councilman Charles Barron. "When you turn blue, you police the white community one way and you police the black community another way.