A gunman shot dead by police on a Bronx street early yesterday was just 14 years old. Authorities say a pair of rookie officers who heard gunfire found Shaaliver Douse firing shots at a fleeing man, and shot the teen dead after he refused to drop his gun and pointed it at the officers, the New York Daily News reports. Douse, who had multiple prior arrests including one for attempted murder in May, was killed by a single shot to the jaw.
At a press conference, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was asked if the boy was the youngest person to be shot dead by the NYPD. "I don't recall any other at this juncture," he said. "There may have been, I just don't recall." Douse's aunt claims he never had a gun and accuses police of a cover-up. "It was my sister’s only child," she tells the New York Post. "You shouldn’t have to bury your child. My beautiful nephew got shot in the head. A mother of one now has to bury her only child." (More New York City stories.)