By PETER COX
Last updated: 7:57 am
July 24, 2008
Posted: 3:46 am
July 24, 2008
Cops who gunned down a bible-clutching, pistol-waving madman in front of his three kids were given no choice but to fire, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday.
"They had no alternative," he said. "He fired seven shots; he was using deadly force against them."
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Cops fired 19 times, hitting retired NYPD sergeant Jason Aiello, 36, in the head and back outside his Staten Island home Tuesday morning as his wife, Rachel, cowered next to him in an SUV.
The Aiellos' lawyer said police kept firing even after Rachel flung the gun out of the car.
"He was still alive when the gun was thrown out of the car," said attorney Peter Antioco. "To me, this was murder. They shouldn't have been shooting . . . with Rachel in the car."
He said he wants the cops charged with reckless endangerment. A spokesman for Staten Island's District Attorney said the case was under investigation.
Aiello's family said he'd cracked under the pressure of a federal investigation into his part in the suspected mob-ordered killing of jeweler Louis Antonelli in April.
Additional reporting by Pilar Conci and Adam Nichols
