Amadou Diallo

Amadou Diallo, 23, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea, was shot and killed just after midnight on February 4, 1999 outside his Bronx apartment building by four plainclothes NYPD Street Crime Unit officers, who fired 41 rounds, 19 of which struck him. The officers said they believed Diallo, who was reaching for his wallet, matched the description of a rape suspect and that they mistook the wallet for a gun. A Bronx grand jury indicted all four officers on second-degree murder and other charges; the trial was moved to Albany, and on February 25, 2000, the jury acquitted all four of every charge. The Department of Justice later found insufficient evidence to bring federal charges. No one has ever been held criminally responsible for Diallo's death.

New York, NY · Bronx County County

• 1999: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The shooting, the 41 rounds fired, and the 19 that struck Diallo, per the Bronx grand jury indictment and trial record.
• The four officers — Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy — were indicted on second-degree murder and other charges, tried in Albany after a change of venue, and acquitted of all charges on February 25, 2000.
• The U.S. Department of Justice separately reviewed the case and found insufficient evidence to bring federal civil rights charges.
• The city of New York settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Diallo's family for $3 million, without admitting liability.
• The NYPD's Street Crime Unit, to which all four officers belonged, was disbanded in 2002 following the case.

• Whether Diallo made any movement that could reasonably have been mistaken as reaching for a weapon, versus simply retrieving his wallet as he had been asked, was disputed at trial and never resolved beyond the acquittal.
• Eyewitness Sherrie Elliott testified that officers continued firing after Diallo had already fallen; that account was not accepted by the jury as sufficient to convict.
• No individual officer has ever been identified as bearing greater responsibility than the others for the number of rounds fired.

• HISTORY — “Amadou Diallo killed by police”
• NY1 — “Marking 25 years since the killing of Amadou Diallo” (2024)
• EBSCO Research Starters — “Diallo shooting”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs