Brooklyn Man Kwesi Ashun ID’d As Victim Shot Dead By NYPD Friday ‘Known T-Shirt Seller’

BROOKLYN, NY. (THECOUNT) — Kwesi Ashun has been identified as the Brooklyn man fatally shot by NYPD officers near the Gold Mine Nail Salon on Friday, according to reports:

Ashun, 33, who was shot and killed by police in Brooklyn Friday, has been identified by neighbors as a man with a history of mental illness who is known throughout his neighborhood for selling T-shirts.

One of the two NYPD officers involved in the confrontation with Ashun remained in a medically induced coma Saturday morning.

Police said the scenario played out around 5:00 p.m. at Gold Mine Nail Salon near Mother Gaston Boulevard and Sutter Avenue in Brownsville as police tried to arrest a man who urinated in the middle of the salon.

Police said Ashun hit one of the cops in head with a metal chair. The officers then tried to use a Taser on Ashun before opening fire and shooting him six times.

Ashun was pronounced dead at the scene if multiple gunshot injuries.

Ashun, of Brooklyn, has a history of mental illness — bipolar disorder and schizophrenia – and a mobile crisis team evaluated him at his home earlier this month, reports ABC7.

He had a 2004 arrest for attacking a police officer that appears to have been sealed because he was diagnosed at that point with mental health illness. He had another interaction with police in 2008 as an emotionally disturbed person.

The injured officer, a 21-year veteran who has spent a long time in the 73 Precinct — arguably the city’s most dangerous — is in a medically induced coma. Officials said they are hopeful he will be OK.

His partner, a rookie, was also treated and released from the hospital following the incident.
In the past month alone, there were five NYPD-involved shootings. Four of the shootings were in the past 10 days — three of them were deadly.

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Geo quick facts: Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with an estimated 2,648,771 residents in 2017. Named after the Dutch village of Breukelen, it borders the borough of Queens at the western end of Long Island – Wikipedia.