Akai Gurley
Murdered November 20th, 2014Akai Gurley
Facts
Fact 1: Akai Gurley was a 28-year-old Black man living in the Pink Houses in Brooklyn with his girlfriend, Kimberly, and their two-year-old daughter, Akaila, and her sister Kamyia. On November 20, 2014, Akai was waiting for the elevator in his building with a friend. When it did not arrive, they decided to take the stairs.
Fact 2: Two NYPD officers, Officer Peter Liang and Officer Shaun Landau, were conducting a "vertical patrol" in the stairwell. Officer Liang was holding his gun with his finger on the trigger and fired a shot into the stairwell, hitting Akai in the chest. Akai then fell from the 7th floor to the 5th floor and collapsed. Akai had not committed a crime and was unarmed.
Fact 3: As Akai lay dying, Officer Peter Liang called his Union representative. For six and a half minutes, as Akai's friend desperately tried to help him, Officers Liang and Landau were unaccounted for. According to District Attorney Ken Thompson, they were arguing over whether or not to call the shooting in to their superiors. They did not call for an ambulance and or try to resuscitate Akai.
Fact 4: On February 10, 2015, Officer Peter Liang was indicted by a grand jury on second-degree manslaughter and other charges for the shooting death of Akai Gurley.
Fact 5: On February 11, 2016 a jury found Liang guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct, but the District Attorney later recommended Liang serve no jail time. At his sentencing hearing on April 19, Judge Danny Chun reduced the verdict to negligent homicide and sentenced Liang to community service and probation. Liang will not spend a day in jail for killing Akai Gurley.