NYPD Cop Who Allegedly Shot Unarmed Black Man Reportedly Had Racist Facebook Posts in 2014

Michael Walker claims he was not holding a gun shot when he was shot by Detective Gregory Gordon in 2013.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Detective Gregory Gordon, 33, is currently under investigation by the NYPD for posting racist messages on his Facebook page back in 2014. According to the NY Daily News, Staten Island's 121st precinct-based officer's inflammatory Facebook posts brings new context clues and further questions in the 2013 of Gordon shooting a black suspect Michael Walker, which was concluded by the NYPD as justifiable in 2013.

The detective reportedly posted a message about Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, about being a "former crack addict" in relation to his disdain for the mayor and his tumultuous relationship with the NYPD. “Explain to me a time when a mayor’s wife has ever been able to weigh in on police related topics ever before? Who cares what this former crack addict says!” Gordon wrote on Facebook on Nov. 3, 2014, around the time a report claimed McCray, who is black, didn’t trust Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

Additionally, Gordon had reportedly posted a list of 19 white people who were allegedly murdered by blacks in June of that year but received no coverage in the press. “Some might get pissed at this status, but it just shows how some people decide when ‘racism’ is acceptable. To sell the news,” he said on his Facebook wall.

Lastly, Gordon had made a restless post about a woman who told had told a television reporter about how hard it is to grow up as a black person: "Are you f------ kidding me? Stop acting like anyone owes you anything. Slavery ended 149 years ago."

nypd_cop_racist_facebook_rants

On Feb. 2, 2013, Gordon and his partner Michael Smith had reportedly received a tip from an anonymous informant that Walker was going to do an armed robbery. Both officers sought Walker and found him in the Port Richmond area of Staten Island just before midnight. The officers claimed Walker, who is an ex-con, ran away from them and pointed a handgun in their direction. Gordon and Smith fired three times at Walker and hit him in the chest, the NYPD said. Gordon was awarded 2014 Police Officer of the Year from the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce for his role in the case of stopping the alleged robbery attempt before it happened.

Walker survived the shooting and is currently suing the NYPD for $25 million because he claims that he was unarmed when the shooting happened. He has a criminal record of being arrested more than a dozen times, and was paroled four months prior to the shooting after serving four years for an assault conviction. Walker had also been convicted of felony drug possession in 2004. The hospital report and images of Walker's scars reveal that he was actually shot in the upper back, not his chest.

Additionally, the NYPD had initially reported that Smith and Gordon recovered a black Smith and Wesson 9-mm handgun and one bullet that next to Walker. Now records from a 2014 federal civil rights lawsuit reveal that the gun was actually found about 20 feet away from where Walker collapsed to the street instead. The NYPD testified in a deposition that Walker staggered about 10 feet from the spot that he was hit.

Now there's 10 feet that come into question, as well as the claim that Walker was holding a gun when Gordon’s bullet struck him. NY state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rooney concluded in the federal lawsuit that Walker had no gun in his hands when the cops fired.

“The defendant abandoned the weapon by either dropping it or throwing it,” the judge said.

Officer Michael Dario was the respondent to the scene after the shooting. The judge in the lawsuit also mentioned that Officer Dario testified he saw Walker holding “what appeared to be a firearm in his hand.” Although, court records show that Dario reported to a lieutenant that “he could not say definitively” that he saw a gun in Walker’s hand, but rather he could only remember spotting Walker’s face as he turned toward Gordon. Also, at press time, there have been no forensic reports of Walker's fingerprints or his DNA on the gun.

Latest in Life