New York Police Department officer Peter Liang was found guilty on two charges, second degree manslaughter and official misconduct, on Thursday in the 2014 shooting death of an unarmed black man, Akai Gurley, in Brooklyn, New York.
Overall, Liang faced five counts, including second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and criminally negligent homicide.
He faces up to 15 years in jail and sentencing has been set for April 14. He has been reportedly fired from the police department.
Per @NYPD spokesman - #PeterLiang has been fired from the department. #nbc4ny— Andrew Siff (@andrewsiff4NY) February 12, 2016
Liang fired his weapon in a dark stairwell of a housing project in Brooklyn on Nov. 20, 2014. The bullet bounced off a wall and into Gurley's chest, killing him.
The prosecution said Liang was startled by Gurley and his partner and fired at Gurley in the stairwell, but missed. Liang's defense argued that Liang was startled by a noise and hadn't meant to fire his weapon.
Gurley was unarmed and had committed no crimes.
Liang was conducting what's known as a vertical patrol, meaning he was walking up and down the housing complex. He said he had his gun drawn because the housing complex was a "high crime area," though prosecutors countered by saying Liang was trying to make it seem as though his life was in danger when it wasn't.
Liang didn't provide CPR to Gurley. The defense argued that it took Liang several minutes to realize he'd shot Gurley, but prosecutors painted Liang as a callous person more concerned with finding the bullet he had fired than with trying to save the man's life.
The officer called to report the shooting after it occurred, but didn't ask for an ambulance -- another bit of information that prosecutors said shows Liang wasn't interested in trying to save Gurley.