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Mystery Witness Found in Groom's Slaying
Williams later said that investigators "definitely did strong-arm" his son over why he visited the two wounded men, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, in the hospital.
The hospitalized survivors also have claimed through their lawyer that a fourth person was never involved. Benefield was in stable condition on Friday and Guzman in critical condition.
![]() Rev. Al Sharpton, left, and Rev. Jessie Jackson, right , hold the hands of Nicole Paultre, the fiance of Sean Bell, during a vigil at the scene of a police shooting in the Queens borough of New York, Nov. 29, 2006. Sean Bell, 23, and two other unarmed men who were attending Bells bachelor party at a Queens strip club were shot an estimated 50 times by police officers just after leaving on early Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006. Bell was killed hours before he was to have married Paultre, the mother of his two children. (AP Photo/Adam Rountree) (Adam Rountree - AP)
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Shakeema Chavis, 25, knew Bell from high school and said she was disturbed by the police department's behavior in the search for witnesses in Jamaica, a notoriously crime-plagued neighborhood.
"They're just bullet-happy. They're just gun-happy," she said through tears. "I think 99 percent of the black and Hispanic community would agree with me."
In a statement, police officials insisted that their investigation was appropriate. And Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking on his weekly radio show, called some of the criticism unfair.
An unidentified undercover officer and four others _ identified as Detectives Mike Oliver, Mark Cooper and Paul Hedley and Officer Mike Carey _ have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a grand jury investigation.
On Friday evening, hundreds of people mourned the slain groom at a funeral held in the same church where he was to be married to his high school sweetheart.
"They took his life, but we can't let them take his legacy," the Rev. Al Sharpton said. "We must give Sean a legacy. A legacy of justice, a legacy of fairness. We don't hate cops, we don't hate race, we hate wrong."
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Associated Press writer Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.


