An NYPD rookie cop who shot and killed his best friend after an argument earlier this month was arrested on second degree murder charges Thursday.
Erick Allen, who just turned 27 on Wednesday, had known Christopher Curro, 25, for years. The two would sleep over each other’s houses as they were growing up, Curro’s stepmother told local media.
Allen shot his friend five times on May 12 outside the victim’s home on Long Island, including twice in head, before running a few blocks away to his house where he told his father what he did. When the two men returned to the scene, New York City police were already there investigating.
A woman who was at the scene the following day told local media she heard Curro’s stepmother say the two were arguing over a woman, but the stepmother denies every saying that, according to the New York Daily News. Also, “city police sources” told local media Allen killed Curro to “halt an escalating fight where Curro was about to hurt somebody else,” the New York Daily News reported last week.
But there has been no official word from the department to confirm that so it’s probably not true.
According to a press release from New York Attorney General Leticia James.
“We trust our police officers to protect the safety of New Yorkers, but instead, this individual allegedly betrayed that duty to end another man’s life,” said Attorney General James. “My office is committed to ensuring justice is served and that no individual is above the law.”
Ellen, the victim’s stepmother, described the shooting as an “execution.”
“For a cop to do that and leave your best friend for dead … that’s atrocious,” she said, the Daily News. “It’s unconscionable. Errick was his best friend. He grew up with Chris. These are not two strangers. They grew up with sleepovers in each other’s houses.”
Allen will be arraigned later today. We will update this story as new information surfaces.
