The gun that killed Sean Bell was displayed yesterday for the first time at the trial of three NYPD detectives charged in the slaying of the young bachelor just hours before his wedding.
Sgt. Donald Kipp told the court he was handed the firearm and two magazines by Detective Michael Oliver just minutes after Bell was gunned down in a 50-shot fusillade on a Queens street in November 2006.
Kipp testified there wasn’t a bullet to be found in the gun he was handed – although Oliver had told another lieutenant he couldn’t remember even firing the weapon.
“They both were empty,” Kipp said. “There were no rounds left in the firearm or magazines.”
Neither Bell’s fiancé, Nicole Paultre-Bell, nor his mother, Valerie Bell, showed any emotion when Oliver’s 9 mm SIG Sauer P226 was introduced as evidence.
Nicole stared intently at the weapon as it was shown to Kipp.
Nicole and Valerie were spotted hugging and crying outside the courtroom earlier after a laundry list of Bell’s personal effects was introduced.
In earlier testimony, it was revealed that Oliver initially told a lieutenant who showed up before Kipp that he didn’t remember whether he fired his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol.
His memory was apparently jogged as he handed over the empty gun to Kipp.
Oliver admitted shooting at Bell and his friends, who were celebrating his bachelor party at a Jamaica strip joint, Kalua, although the detective couldn’t recall how many times he fired – and even complained that his ears were ringing from the gunfire.
According to prosecutors, Oliver stopped and reloaded while squeezing off 31 of the 50 shots cops fired at a car carrying three unarmed men who were leaving Kalua in the early hours of Nov. 25, 2006.
Officials said it was one of Oliver’s bullets that ultimately killed the 23-year-old Bell.
Every gun used that night was shown to Judge Arthur Cooperman, who is hearing the case without a jury.
Although five officers were involved in the shooting on Liverpool Street in Jamaica, only three detectives – Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper – were charged.
Prosecutors said Isnora, charged with manslaughter along with Oliver, fired 11 shots; Cooper, who faces only a reckless-endangerment charge, fired four.
Earlier in the day, Bell family members sat and watched raptly as another officer testified about cataloguing everything Bell had in his possession that night, including a leather jacket, boots, a credit card, jewelry and $176 in cash – $36 in singles.
Lawyers for the cops said Isnora followed Bell and his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, from the club to their car around the corner, where the cops thought the trio went to retrieve a gun after an argument with a man outside the club.
Cops opened fire when Bell, who was behind the wheel, tried to drive off. One cop said he saw Guzman reach for what they thought looked like a gun.