The surprised wife of an assistant to an elderly doctor who was killed by police on Tuesday night was killed by police after defending a gun loaded by officers as a “nice” man.
Police sources have identified the 79-year-old who wore the deceased gun around as Emile Williams of Great Neck, a wealthy town on Long Island's North Shore.
His crying wife, Laline Williams, posted in a brief phone interview that she was “unbearable” after her husband's “terrifying” end.
“I'm not holding on,” she said. “My husband was a doctor's assistant. His patients and his staff, I don't know what they're going through… But he was a good guy.”
The couple's neighbor, Jose Cuspe, was also shocked by Williams' violent end. He didn't even know that his neighbor had a gun.
“I knew the guy for a long time, but I didn't know anything about it,” Quispe said. “I always said 'Hello', I always told him. He's a nice guy… I just saw him about a week ago. He looked completely normal. ”
NYPD officers shot and killed Williams at about 6:40pm Tuesday.th Bayside, Queen, authorities and law enforcement precincts said.
He walked to the station house, chatted with officers assigned to security guards, and allegedly pulled a gun and pointed it at the police officer, Patrol Chief Philip Rivera said at a press conference Tuesday night. I stated.
The officer told him to drop it, then called for backup. It brought four more police officers to the scene.
“The officers issued verbal orders for the man to remove the firearm and place the radio for assistance,” Rivera said. “An additional officer approached and issued an additional word order to drop the firearm, but he did not comply with our officers and continued to point to it.”
Williams ignored the officer's repeated requests, Rivera said. That's when they fired and slammed the man a few times to kill him.
Authorities later discovered a loaded Cobra .38 special firearm at the scene.
Sources said earlier in the day, Nassau police had issued an alert for missing persons tied to a white Lexus tied to his car.
Rivera said police still don't know why Williams did what he did, and it's too early to know if this is a case of suicide.
“That's what we're seeing,” he said, adding that the incident unfolded in an instant.
“It was pretty instant,” Rivera said. “He left the car, approached our officers, and despite many orders, he unfortunately did not drop the firearm, and the officers had to act.
“They tried to escape from this situation many times.”
It is also unknown what Williams said to officers' working security.
“It's still part of the investigation,” Rivera said. “I don't know about that at this point.”
None of the injured were injured during the conflict.
Carson Grant, 47, was stopped by a red light near the grounds when he saw the officers enter with Williams.
“I was facing the precincts and I realized there were a lot of police officers,” Grant said. “There was a lot of activity in front of the precincts, there was a car in the middle of the road.
“I didn't know what had happened,” he said. “But based on the officer…body language, I knew something serious had happened.”
Grant said he was traumatized at the scene and called it “anxiety” because he saw so many officers on one man.
“It was a bit shocking,” he continued. “I knew it was something serious in the way the cops were moving around.
“They were a bit offensive.”
