A march was held Wednesday night for Deborah Danner, the woman shot and killed by police Tuesday evening in her Castle Hill neighborhood. NY1's Lori Chung filed the following report.
Protesters marched through Castle Hill, outraged at the shooting death of a mentally ill woman by an NYPD sergeant.
The demonstration began in front of the Pugsley Avenue building where Deborah Danner was shot. Participants were angry that Sergeant Hugh Barry opened fire after Danner came at him with a bat.
"We're talking about a 66-year-old woman that was having a mental health crisis," said Kimberly Ortiz of NYC Shut it Down. "What she needed was help. She didn't need two bullets to her torso."
"We need accountability, and we need this officer to be arrested," said one person at the rally.
"This kind of reminds me of back in the days, Eleanor Bumpurs. This has been going on oh so often nowadays, and people are tired," said another.
Neighbors say police responded to Danner's apartment Tuesday night like they had several times in the past after complaints about her behavior.
"I said, 'Oh, they'll just control it, you know, take her and take her into the hospital. She'll be alright,'" one neighbor said.
Not expecting that this call would turn fatal.
"Two cop cars came, take her down," one neighbor said. "It was wrong, the way they handled it."
"What was so different about this time to warrant firing a gun towards her?" said a person at the vigil.
Both the mayor and police commissioner have said this encounter was not handled properly. Now, activists want to see the officer punished.
Organizers of this demonstration are now calling on the attorney general to launch an investigation into the shooting.