White Police officer kills off duty black Police officer

Officer Omar Edwards, 25, was an NYPD officer for two years before being gunned down by a fellow officer on May 28, 2009.

Officer Omar Edwards was had just completed his shift at the E. 124 th Street station like any other night. As Edwards walked around the corner toward his personal car parked on Second Avenue."We believe he saw an individual, later apprehended and identified as Miguel Santiago rummaging through his car after having smashed the driver-side window to gain entry," said Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Edwards approached and tried to stop Santiago, before the two got into a physical struggle. Santiago was able to get away from the officer Omar Edwards, by slipping out of his sweater, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Edwards chased the man up two streets with his gun drawn. When he was shot and killed by a fellow officer who was driving by and saw the pursuit, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. A sergeant and two plainclothes officers in an unmarked police car saw the pursuit and made a U-turn to follow the men, Kelly said. Officer Edwards was in plain clothes. Police said he had taken out his gun, a Smith & Wesson 9-millimeter. One of the officers, identified Friday morning as Officer Dunton, a four-year veteran in the anti-crime unit, shooting officer, who was in the front passenger seat, got out of the car and shouted at Officer Edwards to stop and drop the gun. and the non-shooting officer, the shooting officer yelled, "Police, stop&drop the gun, drop the gun. According to the sergeant identified himself as a police officer before the firing on Edwards.

At that point, police said Dunton fired six times from a 9-millimeter, striking Officer Edwards three times - once in the left arm (in and out), once in the left side (bullet is lodged in right abdomen), and once in the left back (bullet is lodged in the chest).

Edwards and Dunton were approximately 15 feet apart. Six shell casings from the shooting officer's gun were recovered at the scene.

The question that I have is this was it necessary for Officer Edwards to have been shot at 6 times and hit 3 times, did Officer Dunton, who is white, hear Office Edwards say that he was an officer and if the police officers and the Sergent that was in the car wittiness the whole confrontation before just automatically setting out to kill this Black 25 year old police officer. Was the shooting excessive?

Are police officers using the shoot now and ask questions later only when it comes to black men? Would this had been the same scenario if both officers were white? So does it just come down to race once again? While in 2009, we find ourselves still in a color aroused society in these United States.?

VIDEO: NYPD officer killed in friendly fire http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=6838037

2:01 / 2:41 Rally held for police shooting 2:41 A vigil and march are held in Harlem for a police officer who was shot by a fellow officer. NY1's Ruschell Boone reports. • NYPD police officer killed by fellow officer Source: NY1 Added On May 31, 2009 cnnad_createAd("16504","http://ads.cnn.com/html.ng/site=cnn&cnn_pagetype=cnn_video&cnn_position=266x49_house&cnn_rollup=house&page.allowcompete=yes¶ms.styles=fs","49","226"); cnnad_registerSpace(16504,226,49); Sound Off: Your opinions and comments Rally held for police shooting 2:41 A vigil and march are held in Harlem for a police officer who was shot by a fellow officer. NY1's Ruschell Boone reports. • NYPD police officer killed by fellow officer Source: NY1 Added On May 31, 2009 Sound Off: Your opinions and comments Post a comment Post a comment Name Location Comments Submit Thank you!Thank you for contributing. Comments are moderated by CNN and will not appear on this story until after they have been reviewed. Not all comments will be posted due to the volume we receive. Close Embed this video Copy and paste this code into your blog/website Or click on the button to copy the code Mixx reddit Digg StumbleUpon Facebook MySpace del.icio.us Share this video