By Michael Brick, The New York Times
The police shot and killed a man who was running from plainclothes officers late Friday night on a crowded Bronx street, police officials and witnesses said yesterday.
The dead man, identified as Carleton Lockhart, 32, of 1898 Harrison Avenue in the Bronx, had been arguing with another man about a cellphone on West 179th Street in University Heights. A police official said that Mr. Lockhart fired a gun during the argument, but no gun was found.
A friend of Mr. Lockhart’s, a 35-year-old construction worker who would not give his name, said that he and Mr. Lockhart went to West 179th Street between Andrews and University Avenues on Friday night to retrieve Mr. Lockhart’s telephone, which had been either lost or stolen on the block. From the sidewalk, the men called the cellphone’s number.
“When we called, we saw this guy take out the phone,” the friend said. “He had Carleton’s phone.”
Mr. Lockhart demanded the cellphone, showing the man a receipt, the friend said. The man demanded $50 for the phone, and they argued and shoved one another, the friend said, adding that Mr. Lockhart was unarmed.
The police official, citing the accounts of three witnesses interviewed by the police as well as the other man in the argument, said that Mr. Lockhart, who the police said had an arrest record that included drug and weapons charges, drew a gun, pistol-whipped the man and fired three shots. The official said that three plainclothes officers heard the shots and got out of their car at the corner of Andrews Avenue.
They saw Mr. Lockhart running toward them and chased him, the official said. Mr. Lockhart turned and ran the other way, east toward University Avenue, the official said.
At University Avenue, uniformed officers confronted Mr. Lockhart, throwing him against a wall, the official said.
During the struggle, two uniformed officers fired three shots, hitting Mr. Lockhart once in the left shoulder and once in the abdomen, the police official said, adding that witnesses reported hearing four shots. Mr. Lockhart died at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Oscar Ortiz, 26, of 86 West 179th Street, said that Mr. Lockhart “fell face down.” He added: “A blue and white car pulled up, and they came out shooting. They turned him over. They all shot him at close range in the chest.” Police officials said they stood by their account.
The police recovered three 9-millimeter shell casings, the sort officers use, as well as two casings from a .25-caliber gun, a weapon none of the officers at the scene carried, according to the authorities.