Credit: Peter Chin
Nicole Paultre grasps a photograph of her, Sean and their children. She was photographed for exclusively for ESSENCE.
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Nicole Paultre Bell should have been celebrating her first wedding
anniversary on Sunday with Sean Bell, her high school sweetheart and the
father of her two young daughters. Instead the 23-year-old observed the
anniversary of Bell’s death with an overnight vigil on a Queens street where
he was shot by undercover police officers last November 25, the morning of
his wedding day.
Joined by relative and supporters, Paultre Bell solemnly marched from the
vigil to a nearby church where the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a sermon and
speakers remembered Bell as a loving friend and father.
“I want justice, but no matter what happens, it won’t bring Sean back,” said
Paultre Bell.
The tragic shooting occurred as Bell, 23, and two friends left his bachelor
party last year at a Queens strip club. Undercover police officers followed
them, believing the three Black men had a gun. As Bell tried to drive away,
police fired 50 bullets at his car, wounding the other two men and killing
Bell. All three men were unarmed. The shooting inspired protests from New
Yorkers, outraged by what they considered yet another case of excessive
police force against Black men.
In March a Grand Jury indicted three of the five officers involved in the
shooting, on manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges. A trial is
scheduled for this winter. Paultre Bell has also filed a wrongful death
lawsuit against the police department, the city, and all five police
officers at the shooting. Her suit argues that the officers were poorly
trained and opened fire recklessly.
“I miss him with all my heart,” Paultre Bell said. “My kids miss him. And
we’re doing the best that we can do to get through this.”
Share your thoughts below on the 1st anniversary of the shooting of Sean Bell.
Related Articles:
PHOTOS: Exclusive pictures of Sean and Nicole Bell »
PHOTOS: The Community's Response »
Rev. Al Sharpton speaks out on the case »
Our complete coverage of the Sean Bell case »
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