- Police Brutality Watch

A Bronx ex-convict was killed by police gunfire early yesterday in an incident that was immediately followed by tense disagreement between the man's family and police over what happened. Carleton Lockhart, 32, was shot once in the left shoulder and once in the abdomen by two uniformed officers from the 46th precinct, who confronted him on West 179th Street near University Avenue, said Insp. Michael Coan, a police spokesman. Lockhart died of his wounds at St. Barnabas Hospital Center. A few minutes before midnight, Lockhart was standing on the street with a small group of men, arguing with one of them over the ownership of a cellphone;on that everyone agreed. What happened next was portrayed by police as the pursuit of a possibly armed suspect by two police units happening upon a volley of bullets. But a friend of the victim's who said he witnessed the incident, and the family's attorney, both called the killing an injustice. Police said Lockhart pistol-whipped and then fired three shots at an 18-year-old man with whom he had been arguing. The man later told police at the 46th precinct stationhouse that Lockhart fired at him, according to a police source. "I can't believe he missed me," the source quoted the man as saying, adding that three witnesses corroborated the man's account. One of the officers tackled Lockhart to a wall before firing a round, while the other officer fired two rounds, police said. It was not clear yesterday which bullets struck the victim. Several neighbors who witnessed yesterday's shooting gave different accounts. One man, who declined to identify himself, insisted that Lockhart was not armed. Another witness, Oscar Ortiz, 26, said he saw from his window on West 179th Stret that more than two officers fired their weapons at Lockhart, who cried for them to stop. The family's attorney, William Ferro, said the facts did not add up. [more] and [more]