Marksmanship

18-yr.-old carrying hairbrush shot 13 times by cops

A Brooklyn teen carrying a hairbrush was shot 13 times and killed by police Monday night after his mother told the officers he had a gun, authorities said.

Five cops, including two sergeants and a detective, opened fire on the youth, who had been arguing with his mother and standing on a first-floor window ledge screaming and acting irrationally, police and witnesses said.

"Basically, it's suicide by cop," said a police source.

Cops and witnesses said the mother of 18-year-old Khiel Coppin was standing outside the building at 590 Gates Ave. when officers arrived.

"He's got a gun! He's got a gun! He's going to kill you," the mother told cops, according to the police source.

Cops said Coppin, who had a history of mental problems, was standing on the first-floor ledge of apartment 1-D in Bedford-Stuyvesant, concealing something under his shirt.

"They were shouting, 'Halt! Halt! Halt!'" a police source said of the moments before cops opened fire on the teenager.

Instead of freezing, the teen jumped off the ledge and climbed over a gate 10 feet from the officers, who yelled, "Drop it!"

But the youth continued toward cops, prompting them to fire at least 20 rounds, hitting him 13 times, a source said. As the teen collapsed, he dropped the hairbrush, the source said.

"He's 10 feet from the cops, he sees their guns out, he hears his mother screaming, 'He's got a gun," and he keeps coming," said a police source. "It's like he didn't care."

Five men fired 20 rounds at 10' and missed 7 times. Ten feet. Bet the farm that at least half of the hits weren't COM. NYC may despise guns but it should at least teach law enforcement their proper use. Then again, surrounded by the likes of the following...

"One witness, Precious Blood, 16, said she heard the teen's mother tell cops, "He's got a gun."

"She thought he had gone crazy," Blood said.

But Andre Sanchez, 17, said it appeared the young man was trying to put up his hands when he was shot.

"Police told him to get down. He wouldn't get down. He hopped out the window and started walking to them. He dropped the brush to the ground and started lifting his hands and that's when the cops shot him," Sanchez said.

'They handcuffed him and started pulling on him even though he was shot.'"

Maybe we wouldn't do any better.

Precious Blood?