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Akai Gurley death: congressman calls for NYPD reform after 'terrible tragedy'

Hakeem Jeffries says ‘there must be accountability for the death of an innocent man’ following shooting death of Gurley, 28, in Brooklyn last week

• Oliver Laughland in New York
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State assemblyman-elect Charles Barron, left, and his wife city Inez Barron, flank Melissa Butler during a news conference outside the Brooklyn DA’s office.Photograph: Richard Drew/AP

The congressman for the New York district where Akai Gurley, an unarmed 28-year-old, was shot dead by a policeman last week, has called for an overhaul of police strategy in the area and branded the shooting a “terrible tragedy”.

Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat who represents New York’s eighth congressional district, told the Guardian: “There must be accountability for the death of an unarmed, innocent young African American man. Something went wrong in that staircase, and it will be the job of the district attorney to get to the bottom of what happened.”

Gurley was killed by a single shot to the torso by rookie police officer Peter Liang in a darkened stairwell in the Pink Houses public housing block in Brooklyn. Police say Liang was conducting a “vertical patrol” of the building in the borough’s East New York neighborhood. Reports suggested Liang’s partner was also a rookie officer.

The Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson, is investigating the shooting, and has referred the matter to his civil rights division. Members of Gurley’s family are understood to have met Thompson on Monday, along with local community members and politicians.

Jeffries told the Guardian the shooting highlighted the need for “meaningful policy reform” by the New York police department.

“The pairing of two rookie officers, one of whom had his gun unholstered in a dark staircase, late at night, is a recipe for disaster,” Jeffries said.

Jeffries was also critical of the zero-tolerance “broken windows” strategy championed by the New York police commissioner, Bill Bratton, which, he said, “leads to an aggressive police mindset towards young men of color”.

“That mindset in certain circumstances can lead to the use of force when such force is clearly not justified. That is clearly what happened in this particular case,” Jeffries said.

At a press conference last week, Bratton maintained the shooting was the result of an accidental discharge, but local community members called for the officer responsible to face criminal charges at a vigil last Friday. Community protests continued into the weekend.

On Monday, the New York City medical examiner’s office confirmed that Gurley’s death had been classified as a homicide.

That classification was “no statement of intent or culpability”, a spokeswoman for the examiner’s office told the Guardian.

Jeffries said he was confident that Thompson would “do the right thing based on what the law, evidence and facts present”. He also predicted further community protests.

“It is important that we express ourselves in a passionate, forceful yet responsible fashion. So that we can keep the focus on the death of Mr Gurley and not provide others with an excuse to take attention away from his tragic death,” Jeffries said.