CUT DOWN: Shaaliver Douse, 14, was shot through the jaw yesterday, spattering his handgun with blood. (
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An armed 14-year-old with a violent rap sheet was shot dead in The Bronx yesterday by a cop who had been on the job for less than a month, officials said.
Surveillance video shows Shaaliver Douse, a suspected gang member, chasing and shooting at a young rival on Courtlandt Avenue near East 151st Street just before 3 a.m., police said.
Two rookie cops on patrol heard the gunfire and ran over.
The officers, both in uniform with weapons drawn, ordered Douse to drop his gun after he fired three shots at his foe, police said.
Douse fired again, and the bullet hit a building on the side of the street where the cops were. Douse’s rival was on the other side of the street, officials said.
One of the cops then fired a single shot, hitting Douse in the head through his jaw. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police recovered a blood-spattered Astra A-100 9mm semiautomatic handgun, which they said was Douse’s, at the scene.
The officers, ages 26 and 27, were taken to Jacobi Medical Center for ringing in the ears and trauma. Both had been on the job less than a month.
Speaking at Police Headquarters, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly dismissed suggestions that the cops should have wounded the boy instead of killing him.
“You shoot to stop. You can’t shoot to wound. That only happens in Western movies,” Kelly said.
“Regardless of the circumstances, this is a crushing blow to any parent.”
The cops were part of Operation Impact, which puts uniformed rookies in high-crime areas.
Asked whether Douse was the youngest person ever shot dead by city cops, Kelly said, “I don’t recall any other at this juncture. There may have been, I just don’t recall.”
Sources suggested Kelly made the rare Sunday press appearance at Police Headquarters because this was the city’s first shooting since neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman was cleared in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida last month. The verdict ignited outrage across the country.
While cops said yesterday’s killing was justified, Douse’s family was furious.
“There was no gun. It’s all a cover-up. It’s what the police do. They kill us and cover it up,” said his aunt, Quwana Barcene, who has had several run-ins with cops herself, according to sources.
She was arrested in North Carolina in 1998 on charges of cocaine trafficking and sentenced to parenting classes and probation, law-enforcement sources said. Since then, Barcene has been arrested six more times, for trespassing, pot possession, reckless driving and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and assault in December, sources added.
Douse’s mom, Shanise Farrar, insisted this morning that her son’s shooting was an “assassination.
“Why would you still shoot him in the head? You’re supposed to shoot him in the arm, shoot him in the foot, break him down,” she said.
“I’m not saying that he’s the best one, but he’s my angel. I wouldn’t want to see this happen to nobody’s kid. … Shaaliver was a good kid in his own way. He loved everybody,” Farrar said.
“He didn’t want to see nobody in the street. He didn’t want to see no kids hungry. He always begged me, ‘Mom, bring these kids in. Feed them. Why are their mother[s] putting them out?’ “
She said her son had a premonition that he’d have a run-in with cops.
“My son was saying, ‘I keep having dreams that [police] are going to hurt me soon.’ This was last week,” she said.
Douse had been arrested in May on attempted-murder charges for allegedly shooting a 15-year-old, but the rap was dropped when the fearful victim wouldn’t testify, sources said. Douse also had busts for robbery and weapons possession.
PBA President Patrick J. Lynch said today: “These officers were put in the extremely difficult situation of encountering an armed individual who was firing his weapon.
“They risked their lives to protect the community and removed a dangerous threat from the streets. The officers did precisely what they were trained to do.”
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Reuven Fenton