wfn.org | Condemnation of Diallo Shooting

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2252
Email: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org

17NCC2/13/99         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC'S NATIONAL MINISTRIES DIRECTOR CONDEMNS 
SHOOTING OF AMADOU DIALLO

NEW YORK, Feb. 13 ---- The Director of the National 
Ministries Unit (NMU) of the National Council of Churches has 
expressed his shock and horror at "yet another case of police 
misuse of power, the case of Amadou Diallo."  

Mr. Diallo, from Guinea, West Africa, immigrated to the 
United States two years ago and lived a quiet life in New York 
City.  But on Feb. 4, he was brutally shot to death just inside 
the building where he lived, by four armed police officers. They 
fired a total of 41 shots and he was hit 17 times, 11 times in 
the legs.

The Rev. Dr. Staccato Powell, NCC Deputy General Secretary 
and NMU Director, stated, "Christians and all people of faith are 
saddened, shocked and deeply outraged by this latest example of 
total disregard for the extraordinary gift of life that God has 
given us. The attacks on unarmed people of color by those who see 
themselves as powerful must be challenged and we must respond."

Amadou Diallo was unarmed and by all accounts, a gentle 
person with no criminal record.  He was trying to maintain 
financial independence as a street peddler.  He was 22 years old.

The president of the NAACP has also condemned the shooting 
as "excessive force at its worst" and has met with the U.S. 
Attorney General and other officials to look at the incident and 
identify the causes.  The attorney for the accused police 
officers, Stephen Worth, stated that "the officers had believed 
Diallo had a gun" because he did not  respond to their spoken 
commands and made motions that the officers interpreted as 
threatening."

"We must seriously question why four armed officers who have 
been members of an aggressive street crimes unit, each with five 
to seven years experience, felt so threatened by one man that 
they fired a total of 41 shots," Dr. Powell asked.

He further stated, "We are calling on the mayor of New York 
City along with Police Commissioner Howard Safir to not only 
launch a full investigation into the spate of attacks on people 
of color by police officers but to form partnerships with those 
community organizations who are already working to identify the 
systemic and root causes of this particular kind of violence and 
begin the process of organizing remedial action. We must all act 
swiftly."

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