Body-worn camera footage released by the NYPD Friday on YouTube captures the frantic chase that ended with a cop and a criminal suspect shot dead in the Bronx by police bullets.
“He’s reaching for it!” Officer Brian Mulkeen, frantic and out of breath, could be heard yelling three times before he and his colleagues fired 15 shots in the Sept. 29 confrontation at the Edenwald Houses with Antonio Williams.
Mulkeen, who fired five of the shots, was struck and killed, as was Williams, 27, who was armed but was unable to fire his .32-caliber handgun as Mulkeen and Officer Robert Wichers chased him, caught him, and then struggled to take him into custody.
Wichers fired one shot. Three other cops, further back on the sidewalk, fired eight shots.
Police did not say who fired the shot that killed Mulkeen, 33.
Williams’ family has been pressuring police to release body-worn camera footage.
Earlier Friday, Williams’ relatives gathered outside One Police Plaza to criticize the NYPD and the mayor for not releasing all the footage, unedited.
“Not once did we hear any of the plainclothes police that jumped out at my brother and chased him in the middle of the night identify themselves,” said Williams’ brother, Justin Williams.
“The video proves that my brother didn’t cause the death of Officer Mulkeen,” Williams said. “The NYPD’s hyper-aggressive policing and recklessness murdered my brother Antonio and the officer in a hail of fifteen bullets.”
The 13-minute video, accompanied by a narration by Deputy Chief Kevin Maloney, head of the Force Investigation Division, did not address a number of questions, including what prompted police to approach Williams, who was on probation for a drug conviction, and another man.
Three nights before Mulkeen was killed, 30 shots were fired by six gunmen near the scene.
But it was not clear then, nor did the video make clear, if police approached Williams and the other man because they thought they were involved in that prior shooting. The other man did not run from police and was charged in a case involving a parole warrant.
Police also did not say if any of the officers had been involved in previous shootings.
Mulkeen, who did not activate his camera, was part of a Bronx anti-crime unit and had racked up 270 arrests, many for gun possession.
He was a track star at Fordham who later gave up a career on Wall St. to become a cop.
The NYPD is still investigating the shooting and has not yet said if the officers who fired acted within department guidelines.
YouTube will likely be the NYPD’s preferred way of releasing body camera camera footage, police said recently,