“Sometimes my heart doesn’t quite believe where my eyes have taken me….”
From the first call from our reporter late Wednesday night, to the literally out of control press conference at City Hall on Friday morning – things have been sort of a blur for me the last few days working this story here in Newburgh. The shooting scene is approximately a half mile from my home, on the same street in fact. Yea, another major story I’m immediately drawn into here where I live. I know these streets, even at all hours of the night. I know some of the individuals involved such as the neighborhood clergy, police officials and even the city politicians. This one isn’t pretty and certainly won’t be wrapped up and all cut and dry when a thorough investigation is completed. The police shot and killed a neighborhood kid here after recognizing him on the street and apparently chasing him into his sister’s apartment. The inner city community is upset and rightly so. Although he had a warrant for arrest against him for missing a court date on a domestic violence case, and quite a few “priors” (arrests), there just doesn’t seem to be any justification for two of the four officers from the anti-crime unit here in town known as the “Jump-Out Boys” to fire multiple shots at close range and kill him. Initial stories are also stating that he “lunged” at the cops with a 12.5″ kitchen knife, so they had no choice 
other than to use deadly force, subsequently ending his life. Another side factor in my coverage is that as long as I’ve been in the business covering the streets and major crime stories and the like; I’ve never been invited into the scene where a fatal shooting has taken place. Doesn’t matter who the shooters were or anything dealing with the particulars of the case. I’ve covered a lot of emotionally charged cases and have been around death throughout my career. It was just all very eerie to be invited inside by the family to witness and document a site where a man was gunned down by police less than 24 hours earlier. I have a feeling this one isn’t going away so quietly anytime soon… ~cg.
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
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