The surprised spouse of an aged doctor’s assistant killed by police Tuesday night time after he pointed a loaded gun at a cop defended her husband as a “nice” man.
Police sources have recognized the deceased gun-wielding 79-year-old as Emil Williams of Nice Neck, an prosperous city on the Lengthy Island’s North Shore.
His weeping spouse, Laraine Williams, informed The Publish in a short cellphone interview that she was “not holding up” after her husband’s “horrific” finish.
“I’m not holding up,” she mentioned. “My husband was a physician’s assistant. His patients and his staff, I don’t know what they’re going through …. But he was a nice man.”
The couple’s next-door neighbor, Jose Quispe, was additionally shocked by Williams’ violent finish — he didn’t even know his neighbor had a gun.
“I knew the guy a long time, but I didn’t know nothing about that,” Quispe mentioned. “I always said ‘Hi,’ I always talked to him. He’s a nice person … I just saw him about a week ago. He seemed completely normal.”
NYPD cops shot and killed Williams at round 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday exterior the 111th Precinct in Bayside, Queens, authorities and legislation enforcement sources have mentioned.
He’d walked as much as the station home and chatted up the officer assigned to safety, then allegedly pulled a gun and pointed it on the cop, Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera mentioned throughout a press convention Tuesday night time.
The officer informed him to drop it, then referred to as for backup — which introduced 4 extra cops to the scene.
“The officer gave verbal commands for the male to put down the firearm and radioed for assistance,” Rivera mentioned. “Additional officers approached and gave additional verbal commands to drop the firearm, but he did not comply and continued to point it at our officer.”
Williams ignored the cops’ repeated calls for to again off, Rivera mentioned. That’s once they opened hearth, hitting the person a number of instances and killing him.
Authorities later discovered a loaded Cobra .38 particular firearm on the scene.
Earlier within the day, Nassau police had issued a lacking individual’s alert tied to his automotive, a white Lexus, in line with sources.
Rivera mentioned police nonetheless don’t know why Williams did what he did, and it’s too early to inform whether or not this was a case of suicide-by-cop.
“It’s something we’re looking at,” he mentioned, including that the incident unfolded in a flash.
“It was pretty instantaneous,” Rivera mentioned. “He exited his car, he approached our officers and regardless of … quite a few instructions, he didn’t drop the firearm, sadly. And the officers needed to act.
“They attempted to de-escalate this situation multiple times.”
It’s additionally unclear what Williams mentioned to the cop working safety.
“That’s still part of the investigation,” Rivera mentioned. “We’re unsure of that at this point.”
No officers had been injured throughout the confrontation.
Carson Grant, 47, was stopped on the crimson mild close to the precinct when he noticed the officers get into it with Williams.
“I was facing the precinct, and I noticed there were a bunch of cops,” Grant mentioned. “There was lots of exercise in entrance of the precinct, there was a automotive in the midst of the highway.
“I didn’t catch what happened,” he mentioned. “But based on the cops’ … body language, I knew something serious occurred.”
Grant mentioned he was traumatized by the scene, and referred to as it “alarming” to see so many cops on one man.
“It was a bit shocking,” he continued. “I simply knew it was one thing critical the way in which the cops had been shifting round.
“They were kind of aggressive.”
