The NYPD Explains Why Their Bullets Wounded Nine People Yesterday

AP
Connor Simpson 26,097 Views Aug 25, 2012

It's official. The New York Police Department have admitted that all nine people wounded yesterday in the Empire State Building shootout were from bullets they fired at Jeffrey Johnson. 

CNN's David Ariosto reports the NYPD said the two officers that confronted Johnson fired a total of 16 shots. "One officer shot nine while another one shot seven," they said. Police commissioner Ray Kelly explained the injured bystanders were hit by ricocheting bullets. The shots hit "flowerpots and other objects around, so ... their bullets fragmented and, in essence, that's what caused the wounds." Thankfully, most of the victims have been treated and released from the hospital already. 

The next question the NYPD will have to answer is why the two officers needed to fire 16 bullets to take down one man who, as we can see in the video, was only a few feet away from them. People began to suspect the nine wounded were hurt by NYPD bullets yesterday when the math didn't add up. The .45-caliber pistol Johnson used carries eight bullets. Five of those were used to kill the victim, two were left in the chamber, and one was found unfired on the ground after the shootout. 

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