The Brooklyn man shot and killed by police on Monday was apparently a mugging victim chasing two individuals who had robbed him moments earlier — including one suspect who was wanted for another shooting earlier this month, police sources said.
Law enforcement sources said 20-year-old Nathan Scott ran after the pair in East Flatbush, near the corner of 57th Street and Remsen Avenue, at around 5:50 p.m. on March 18 while wildly firing at them — prompting a police response that led to Scott being shot to death by cops.
Scott could be seen on surveillance video, obtained from a nearby home, opening fire on two people who fled from his shots when police officers assigned to the Brooklyn South Community Response Team, arriving on the scene in an unmarked car, bounded out of their vehicle, yelling at Scott to “Stop!”
“They see a male chasing another male and female firing numerous rounds trying to shoot them. Our officers jump out quickly and they take care of the threat,” Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a March 18 press conference. “The male was shot numerous times and pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital.”
The officers had opened fire on Scott, killing him in a hail of bullets. A 60-year-old bystander wound up also being hit two shots fired in the fuselade of gunfire.
As of Wednesday morning, authorities say they are still waiting on ballistic testing to confirm if the bystander was also shot by police gunfire.
The cops involved in the shooting were examined at a local hospital but were unharmed, police sources said.
Meanwhile, law enforcement sources said that 19-year-old Jeremiah Adams of East Flatbush had been one of the individuals Scott had been chasing after he was apparently mugged.
Adams himself was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly shooting an 18-year-old man twice on East New York Avenue and Mother Gaston Boulevard in Ocean Hill on March 7. He was charged with attempted murder, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the March 7 shooting.
Additional charges against Adams are pending the results of the ongoing investigation into Monday’s incident.
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