Pubdate: Mon, 22 Apr 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Elissa Gootman

FATAL SHOOTING OF SUFFOLK MAN WAS AN ACCIDENT, POLICE SAY

A Suffolk County police officer accidentally shot and killed a 20-year-old 
man during a botched drug raid Friday night, the police said.

The shooting occurred at 10:40 p.m., the police said, as officers from the 
Police Department's emergency services division prepared to raid a house in 
Bellport, N.Y., where they believed drugs were being sold by armed dealers.

As a group of four officers neared the front door, the police said, two men 
opened the door and walked out. The officer leading the raid, who was 
carrying a 9-millimeter submachine gun, stopped short. The officer behind 
him tripped over a tree root and bumped into the lead officer, setting off 
his gun, the police said.

Three shots were fired from the gun, and one hit Jose Colon, 20, in the 
head, said Detective Lt. John N. Fitzpatrick, commander of the Suffolk 
County Police Department's homicide squad. Mr. Colon was pronounced dead 
early Saturday morning at a nearby hospital.

At a news conference Saturday, police officials apologized to Mr. Colon's 
family. "This was completely an unintentional act and a tragic mistake," 
Lieutenant Fitzpatrick said yesterday. The homicide squad and internal 
affairs bureau are investigating and will report their findings to the 
Suffolk County district attorney's office, he added.

Mr. Colon was mourned yesterday at the Victory Church of God in East 
Patchogue, where his family attends services and his uncle is a pastor.

"Everybody was crying in church," said Adrian Ramdoo, a relative of Mr. 
Colon's and a member of the church. "I broke down and cried today myself." 
Mr. Colon's grandfather, Charles Seaton, said his grandson had been 
studying draftsmanship and photography at Briarcliffe College on Long 
Island and was working in graphic design.

Lieutenant Fitzpatrick said yesterday that just before the gun went off, 
officers had asked Mr. Colon and the other man who stepped outside, 
identified as Aaron Hatcher, 20, to drop to the ground. Mr. Hatcher had 
complied, the lieutenant said, but Mr. Colon had not. "He was still moving 
down the steps toward the officers," the lieutenant said. "If he's moving 
toward them, they're not going to continue to rush him, which probably led 
to the lead man stopping."

Mr. Colon did not have weapons or drugs with him, the lieutenant said.

The police would not identify the officer whose gun discharged yesterday, 
but Newsday reported that he is Tony Gonzalez, a 14-year veteran of the 
Police Department.

In the raid, the police recovered at least eight ounces of marijuana and a 
loaded semiautomatic rifle from the house, Lieutenant Fitzpatrick said, and 
arrested four men on charges of second-degree marijuana possession. The 
police said no one lived at the house. Aside from the men arrested and the 
drugs seized, the police found little more inside than a pit bull and a chair.
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