Officers didn’t try to diffuse the situation—not even warning Vassell to put down the object, a witness said.
“They just hopped out of the car. It’s almost like they did a hit. They didn’t say please. They didn’t say put your hands up, nothing,” stated witness Jaccbot Hinds.
People in the neighborhood, as well as the officers assigned to the community, knew about Vassell’s mental illness and believed he was harmless, Andre Wilson, Vassell’s longtime friend told the New York Daily News. But the officers who killed Vassell were reportedly uninformed about his history before they immediately opened fire. That’s not unusual for NYPD officers who have a history of killing mentally ill suspect without taking deescalation steps.
Vassell’s parents could not force their son to take medication because he was an adult, Sharpton said. Ironically, police shot dead Vassell’s best friend, Ortanzso (Marlon) Bovell, on a Brooklyn street in 2008. The killing set Vassell on a downward spiral, a friend told the Daily News.
“He (Vassell) wasn’t an angry person,” Bovell’s sister Leesh said. “He was depressed mentally. They were friends forever. He hasn’t been the same since Marlon died.”
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