Brooklyn DA on Peter Liang: ‘There is No Evidence He Intended to Kill’

Liang claimed he accidentally fired his weapon after reacting to a startling noise during a vertical patrol in a dark stairwell.

Police officer Peter Liang, second from left, sits with his legal team while waiting for charges to be read back to the jury in his trial on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016 at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York in New York. Mary Altaffer/AP

The office for the District Attorney of Brooklyn has requested that former NYPD Officer Peter Liang serve no jail time in the shooting that killed Akai Gurley back in November of 2014.

D.A. Kenneth Thompson suggested Liang serve five years of probation, with six months confined to his home and 500 hours of community service, according to a statement from his office released on March 23.

When Mr. Liang went into that building that night, he did so as part of his job and to keep the people of Brooklyn and our city safe.

— Kenneth Thompson, Brooklyn District Attorney