A man who is accused of physically assaulting two people was accidentally shot by police on Sunday night after the suspect barricaded himself inside of an apartment.

Hassan King, 42, allegedly punched a 22-year-old man and struck a 34-year-old woman at approximately 10:40 p.m. during a dispute inside an apartment at 1380 University Ave. in the Bronx. The victims were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition.

After the assault, King barricaded himself inside the apartment, and hostage negotiators tried to convince the suspect to surrender for more than two hours, police said.

When cops finally forced the door open, the lead officer accidentally shot King in the wrist when the door swung back and hit the lead officer. King was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition.

He is charged with assault, menacing, harassment and obstructing governmental administration.

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Protests in East Flatbush last week stemming from the shooting of 16-year-old Kimani Gray by police officers on March 9 grew steadily calmer as the week wore on, after an explosion of violence on Wednesday night resulted in 45 arrests and one police officer injured.

City Councilman Jumaane Williams, who had come under fire for comments made accusing “outsiders” of inciting unprepared teens to violence, was able to direct a fair number of the protesters on Friday night into a nearby church for a community discussion, though a group did split off to march on to the police precinct, where someone eventually threw a bottle at police before the crowd dispersed.

Reports of a successful Youth Empowerment Seminar on Saturday preceded another night of protests. This time, on-scene reports indicated police vastly outnumbered protesters by a factor of nearly three-to-one.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week said he was not going to go out to East Flatbush because he didn’t want to “inflame things” but that he had “reached out to clergy and officials.”

He said he was planning on calling the mother of the deceased boy, but as of Sunday had still not made the call.

The mayor’s office did not respond to inquiries as to when the mayor was planning to call Mrs. Gray.

Conflicting reports of her son’s involvement in gangs have piled up, from Mrs. Gray herself telling WNYC she doesn’t think her son would ever carry a gun, but wasn’t sure, to reports from the NY Post of Facebook photos where Kimani Gray is making gang signs with his hands or videos in which he taunts a “young rival Crip.”

Experts on city gangs dismissed the Facebook and YouTube activity as amateur, and indications that Kimani’s gang involvement would have been extremely low-level; while teachers and neighbors spoke of a young man who “acted tough” but was serious about becoming an accountant and moving his family into a better neighborhood.

The principal at Kimani’s school in Manhattan said they “believed in his potential from the day he entered [the] school.”

“He traveled over an hour each day from East Flatbush… The year and a half we had with Kimani allowed us to get to know his best self,” Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction principal Matt Willoughby said.

Hit hard by loss of brother

Gray’s mother also talked about the effect her eldest son’s death two years ago had on Kimani: the older boy had apparently been a father figure to his younger sibling, and instrumental in keeping him in school and off the streets.

After his death, Kimani started staying out late because, he told her, he had nothing to come home to.

At the same time, the Grays had been displaced from their home and were reportedly living five-to-one-room in her brother’s apartment. They had finally moved into a new home a few days before Gray was shot by police. His mother said when she showed him the keys to the new house, he was so excited he “jumped as high as to the ceiling and said, ‘yes, we’re finally out of here!’”

The officers involved

The cops who shot Gray were identified last week as Sergeant Mourad Mourad and Officer Jovaniel Cordova.

According to NY1, one officer was involved in two prior lawsuits for alleged civil rights violations, and the other faced three similar lawsuits.

Some of those cases reportedly involved stop-and-frisk incidents, and city officials reportedly opted to pay settlements in all five cases.

City officials insisted that settlements do not indicate an acknowledgement of any wrong-doing, and that involvement in lawsuits do not necessarily indicate guilt.

A major stop-and-frisk lawsuit against the city commences Monday morning.

Community calls for experience and cultural sensitivity from police

Last week, members of the community suggested that a problem with the police force in the area is that they are often young and inexperienced: NYPD policy frequently places rookie cops in the worst areas of the city.

NYPD officials have previously said that the purpose of the Impact Program is to allow rookies to get important experience quickly.

In the case of the Kimani Gray shooting, Mourad was an 8-year veteran on the force, and Cordova had five years.

But community organizers maintained the point that more training is needed, and specific training, as repeated calls were made for cultural sensitivity by police officers when operating within the community.

 Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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Following a third night of unrest during what was meant to be a vigil for 16-year-old Kimani Gray, shot by cops last weekend after reportedly pointing a .38 caliber gun at them, local City Councilman Jumaane Williams held another press conference Thursday afternoon with other community leaders, asking the public to respect the wishes of Gray’s family and maintain peaceful protests and marches, but abstain from further violence.

After repeated calls via Twitter at the height of last night’s violence for outsiders to leave the community alone, Councilman Jumaane Williams again requested that “outsiders” abstain from rallying youth to action without proper training and strategy, but said that he believes those outsiders are well-intentioned, and welcomed them.

“I think they’re concerned and want to help,” Williams said. “I just want to make sure that our young people’s anger is channeled productively.”

“We want you, but be constructive; don’t endanger our kids,” he added.

Williams refused to identify who he sees as “outsiders,” asserting that doing so would be counterproductive. He also asked that the community withhold comment on either side until a thorough investigation has been completed.

The sisters of Shantal Davis, an unarmed woman killed by police last June, spoke as well, urging the community to attend meetings they hold on Monday at 39th Street and Church Avenue.

Other speakers mentioned Williams’ efforts to find a location in the neighborhood to establish a community center.

Gray’s father stood by Councilman Williams, but chose not to speak. Speaking on his behalf, Williams told the crowd the elder Gray was “not happy with the violence occurring,” but wanted peaceful, organized marches and protests.

A man who identified himself as a former member of the Bloods gang said he came from “the same thing Kimani came from.”

He called the police murderers, noting that Gray was shot three times in the back.

According to the autopsy report, Gray was shot a total of seven times. Three shots were to his back.

The repeated theme, from clergy, community members, and elected representatives, was that action was needed, but it must be organized. Williams lamented the handful of youth who “unknowingly violated parole last night,” using this as an example of the negative consequences of inciting youth to action without properly informing them of consequences.

As the crowd disbanded, a young man began to shout at nearby police, calling them “occupiers.”

“This is Palestine!” the young man cried. “And last night was Syria!”

 Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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UPDATE: Police have identified the deceased 16-year-old boy as Kimani Gray. His family has been notified of his death, cops said.

Metro’s original story is below.

A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed by two plainclothes NYPD patrol officers in East Flatbush last night after he pointed a gun at them, cops said.

The shooting occurred around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night. Two plainclothes patrol officers in an unmarked car pulled up to “a group of males” in front of 473 East 52 Street, and noticed one of the males, apparently 16-years-old, break away from the group when he saw the officers.

An NYPD official said they do not know if the other males in the group were teenagers as well.

Police say the boy adjusted his waistband and “continued to act in a suspicious manner,” so the two officers got out of their unmarked car and attempted to talk to him.

Cops said that is when the boy turned and pointed a .38 caliber revolver at the officers. Both officers fired at the boy, cops said, “striking him about the body.”

An NYPD official said they do not know how many shots were fired at the boy, and that the situation is under investigation.

The boy was pronounced dead on arrival at Kings County Hospital. Police said a loaded .38 caliber Rohm’s Industry revolver was recovered at the scene.

The officers were treated for trauma and tinnitus at Methodist Hospital and are reportedly in stable condition.

This was the second reported police-involved shooting on Saturday. The other one, in Staten Island, was not fatal.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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