THE RIOTS AND RIOTERS

— A candlelight vigil for a teenager shot by police in Brooklyn erupted into violence on the streets Monday night.

Outraged crowds wreaked havoc, ransacking stores, smashing car windows and beating up a Rite Aid clerk.

Police say the rowdy group marched along Church Avenue near the 67th Precinct station in East Flatbush following the vigil for 16-year-old Kimani Gray.

Authorities remain on high alert, with barricades blocking the entrance to the precinct. Police in riot gear were manning those barricades early Tuesday, vowing not to stand down anytime soon after the mayhem Monday.

The community’s outrage spilled over as the vigil turned violent. The protesters who planned the march were blocked from getting to the station, and then some turned their anger into whatever was in their path.

They trashed a Rite Aid, where a group attacked the manager. They also overturned garbage cans and destroyed a fruit stand.

Organizers say they regret that the rally got out of hand, but that it’s about more than one police shooting.

“I don’t want people to talk about, in detail, the one shooting,” City Councilman Jumaane Williams said. “This is bigger than that. This is the details of what people feel like day after day in this community. This is not an excuse for what happened. But let’s not ignore the explanation of why it happened.”

One person was arrested on disorderly conduct charges. There were no reports of officers injured.

Authorities say Gray, a reputed gang member, was with a group of other males in Brooklyn Saturday night and started acting suspiciously when he saw police in an unmarked car.

When officers identified themselves as they approached him, police say the teen pointed a .38-caliber revolver at the officers, who responded by firing 11 shots, striking him several times.

The two officers have been placed on administrative duty.

________________

Vigil for Brooklyn teen killed by cops turns into a full-scale riot
6 hrs ago
There are peaceful vigils to honor the dead, and then there’s what happened in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Monday night. A ceremony to mourn a teen killed Saturday by cops turned into a riot: An angry mob threw bottles and trash cans at police, ransacked stores, smashed car and bus windows, and assaulted bystanders. Police say the 16-year-old whose death sparked the chaos in the East Flatbush neighborhood, Kimani “Kiki” Gray, was a member of the Bloods street gang and pulled a gun on cops. However, Gray’s family insists the teen didn’t own a gun and had been adjusting his belt when he was shot. The crowd dispersed around midnight. According to one report, another vigil is planned for Tuesday night. [Source]

______________________________

A candlelight vigil last night to protest the controversial shooting death of a 16-year-old black boy on Saturday night in Brooklyn turned violent when the crowd grew frustrated and started throwing bottles at cops, smashing store windows and eventually looting a Rite Aid, according to published reports.
The crowd was upset by the death of Kimani Gray, who was gunned down in a hail of 11 bullets by two police officers in East Flatbush, who said he pointed a .38-caliber pistol at them, though eyewitnesses contradicted the police account. The unidentified officers have been placed on desk duty while the department investigates.
According to police, Gray left a group of other males when he saw police in an unmarked red car. Authorities say he was acting “suspiciously,” apparently by fidgeting with his waistband. Police say the undercover officers identified themselves as they approached him, and the boy then pointed a .38-caliber revolver at the officers, who responded by firing 11 shots, striking him several times. He was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital.
Police say Gray’s revolver was loaded with four live rounds.
The New York Post aided the police account by publishing that the 16-year-old had a rap sheet that included charges of grand larceny and inciting a riot, information the Post got from “police sources.”
But Gray’s friends say the cops opened fire as the teen was screaming, “‘Stop! I’m not running!’ ” said his pal, Devonte Brown, 16.
According to WPIX-TV, another witness, Camille Johnson, said, “He was running for his life, telling the cops, “Stop,”
She added: ”They really are, seriously, walking around, shooting little kids.”
At the vigil last night, riot police filled the streets when the crowd started throwing bottles. The crowd surged into the Rite Aid on Church Avenue near Albany Street and trashed it at about 9:15 p.m., pulling items off the shelves and attacking the store manager, clerks and security guard, according to the fire department. Sources told the Post that the group stole some items from the store and cash from the register, sources said.
Community member Sandra Mitchelin, 42, who helped organize the vigil, explained the rioting by saying the teens grew violent because they were disappointed that no elected officials initially attended the vigil.
“The kids, they retaliate because they want their voice to be heard,” said Mitchelin, who said Gray was “like a son” to her. “They’re frustrated. Not even the police commissioner or the mayor. Nobody came out… And he was a baby!”
But City Councilman Jumaane Williams eventually arrived on the scene, sending out a tweet that said, ”I’m in the middle of the riot action at Church and Snyder in my district. Right now, things are tense. Young people have expressed anger.”
Estimating the crowd at 60 to 100 people, the councilman said he was “trying to defuse the tension. Tonight was a peaceful vigil [for Gray] that devolved into a riot,” Williams added. “The youth in this community have no outlets for their anger, no community center.”One person was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, an NYPD spokeswoman said, while no police officers were injured.“The whole community is fed up,” Mitchelin, who has a 14-year-old daughter who went to school with Gray, told The Post. “They come out and attack these kids like they’re gangbangers. … These were 13, 14, 15-year-olds at a party. It never deserved to go down how it went down.”
“We need to have an investigation,” Mitchelin added. “We need somebody to say something.”
Another demonstration is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday at East 55th Street and Church Avenue.
About Nick Chiles