April 5 (Reuters) - The New York attorney general's office is investigating the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed black man who pointed a metal pipe at officers in Brooklyn, authorities said on Thursday.
The death of Saheed Vassell on Wednesday was the latest in a string of fatal shootings of unarmed black men by police that has triggered street protests and fueled a renewed debate about racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.
"We're committed to conducting an independent, comprehensive and fair investigation," Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, said in a statement on Thursday.
Police said Vassell was killed by officers responding to reports of a man aiming a gun at people in the street. When the officers arrived, police said, Vassell took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object them.
The officers believed the suspect was holding a firearm, a senior police official told a news conference on Wednesday, and three plainclothes officers and one uniformed officer fired 10 shots. Vassell later died in a hospital. media said Vassell was 34-years-old and that activists in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood were organizing a rally for later on Thursday to demand justice for him.
His killing followed the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed black man, Stephon Clark, 22, in Sacramento, California, that has sparked more than two weeks of demonstrations. Officers responding to a report of someone breaking windows killed Clark on March 18 in his grandmother's yard. The officers feared he had a gun, but it turned out he was holding a cellphone, Sacramento police said.