Amadou Diallo was born in
Guinea on September 2, 1975. After studying in
Thailand and
England, he emigrated to New York City in September of 1996.
Diallo was a devout Muslim. He worked as a street vender. He sold videotapes and other goods from a table in front of a store, with the consent of the store owner. He spent his evenings studying math and computer science. He had no criminal record.
On the evening of February 4th, 1999, Diallo was approached by four police officers near the entry to his apartment building.
The police officers drove unmarked cars, and wore plain clothes. They all wore bulletproof vests. They all carried at least one nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol, equipped with a sixteen-round magazine. These weapons are designed so that subsequent pulls of the trigger require less pressure than the initial pull. A trained operator can empty an entire clip in less than four seconds.
The officers were looking for a serial rapist. The description was a black or hispanic male, 5'5" to 5'8" in height, weighing between 130 and 160 pounds. Diallo fit that description.
The officers opened fire on Diallo as he stood in the vestibule of his apartment building. The vestibule was not much bigger than a phone booth. Officer Richard Murphy fired four times. Officer Kenneth Boss fired five times. Officers Sean Carroll and Edward McMellon each emptied an entire sixteen-round clip.
When the encounter was over, Diallo was dead. Officers had fired forty-one shots at him, hitting him nineteen times.
Diallo was unarmed. He had his wallet, a beeper and his keys in his pocket, but nothing else. He did not own a weapon.
References:
http://www.courttv.com/national/diallo/
http://www.amadoudiallofoundation.org/