The grief-stricken family of an armed man shot dead after confronting nearly a dozen Brooklyn cops on Wednesday accused police of ?overkill? after they let loose a barrage of bullets to take him down.
Tyquarn Graves, 33, was killed Tuesday night in Crown Heights shortly after cops said he shot and wounded another man ? then refused to drop his weapon and moved as if he was going to fire at the 10 officers facing off with him, according to police.
?He had a gun in his hand. They saw it," Chief of Department Terrance Monahan said shortly after the incident. ?The officers gave orders for the male to drop the weapon. We hear the officers for over a minute ? ?He?s moving his hands, he?s getting up. He?s gonna go. He?s gonna go. Please drop the gun! Please drop the gun!??
The NYPD on Wednesday did not provide further details, including how many times each officer fired and how many times Graves was struck, though up to 20 shots are heard on a blurry video of the scene posted on social media.
But Graves? relatives demanded to know why so many cops had to open fire just to bring down one man.
?It was overkill,? said Graves? uncle Paul Stroud. ?We want answers. We just want answers."
Speaking through tears, Graves? mother, Motique Graves, said police ?overdid? it.
?The doctors said the first shot from the cops hit him in the chest and killed him. He was dead right there on the scene. Why did it take so many cops? They overdid it. It was just too much," she said.
?I mean, come on ? one person??
When officers got to the scene at Rochester Ave. and Dean St. outside the Kingsborough Houses, Graves had already shot and wounded another man, 49-year-old Terrance Colclough, police said.
Witnessed pointed out Graves, hiding up the block behind a tree on Dean St., at which point a group of 77th Precinct officers and Housing Bureau cops confronted him.
[More New York] ?An orchestrated attack?: NYPD commissioner says looters are hoarding debris, cement-filled bottles to throw at cops ?
One Facebook video posted from the side of a nearby building shows flashing police lights while a woman can be heard exclaiming: ?They gonna kill him.?
Several seconds later, several women can be heard screaming, ?Drop the f--ing gun!? and ?Drop the gun!? right before a barrage of gunfire drowns them out.
It was not clear what the original shooting was about. Colclough, who lives at the houses, was struck in the abdomen and is listed in stable condition. He has an arrest for assault and three for drugs on his record.
[More New York] Guardian Angel badly injured in showdown with looters outside sneaker store in East Village ?
Colclough?s daughter-in-law says he works in a warehouse at the Navy Yard and that ?he doesn?t get involved in stuff like this.?
Graves served six years in state prison for robbery as a juvenile offender and had other arrests for grand larceny, robbery and assault.
His mother, still reeling from the May 16 death of her own mother, remembered him differently, noting he worked as a bouncer and in construction, ?whatever labor work he could do to take care of his kids.?
?He was special,? she said. ?He loved his daughters ? they?re 5 and 10.
"They?re taking it hard.
Police said the shooting was not related to the protests over the death of George Floyd. But both Graves? mother and uncle believe the cases are similar ? symptomatic of overly aggressive police.
?This is exactly what we?re trying to fight,? Stroud said. "We want compassion and we want to be able to work with police, but why kill him?
?He wasn?t an angel ? but he didn?t deserve to die like that.?
Reply With Quote
