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NYPD kills bystander during undercover gun sting

By Amy R. Connolly
The NYPD said a replica weapon was carried by a suspected illegal gun salesman. Photo courtesy NYPD
The NYPD said a replica weapon was carried by a suspected illegal gun salesman. Photo courtesy NYPD

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- New York City police fatally shot a 61-year-old bystander who happened to be standing behind a suspect during an undercover gun buy.

Felix Kumi was shot twice in the torso as police shot at a suspected illegal gun salesman about 1 a.m. Saturday. Kumi died at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, police said.

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Police were investigating the sale of possible illegal guns "when things went awry," Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Terrance Raynor said. An undercover officer in street clothes was posing as a gun buyer when he met with an alleged seller in the Bronx. The two drove to Mount Vernon, where the deal went bad, police said.

"At that location, another male got into the car," said NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill. "There was some discussion, and a gun was put to our undercover's head."

After the undercover officer handed over $2,400, he pulled out his own weapon and fired 11 rounds at the would-be robber, later identified as 37-year-old Alvin Smothers, hitting him in the shoulder and arm.

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Police said Kumi happened to be standing there and was shot. The suspect who was driving the car, Jeff Aristy, 28, fled the scene.

Kumi, a father of two, drove a bus for the Mount Vernon school district, located about 20 miles outside New York City.

"We're doing the best we can for the type of situation this is," his daughter Rachel Kumi, 25, said. "It's a travesty that this happened."

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