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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Youth Holding Candy Wrapper, But Marshal Sees Gun And Shoots

Chris Olert Associated Press

A federal marshal shot a teenager walking down the street eating a Three Musketeers candy bar after reportedly mistaking the silver wrapper for a gun.

Andre Burgess, a high school soccer star, was in fair condition with a leg wound Saturday at Jamaica Hospital.

“It’s sick,” Burgess, 17, said from his hospital bed. “You can’t even walk down the street and eat a candy bar anymore.”

The Queens district attorney and the U.S. Marshals Service are investigating the shooting, representatives of each agency said.

Deputy Marshal William Cannon, a five-year veteran assigned to the Newark, N.J., office, was put on leave, Marshal Service spokesman Dave Branham said. Cannon was part of a federal task force hunting for a fugitive from a 1982 shooting of a customs agent when Burgess passed the investigators Thursday, according to reports.

Burgess walked past the marshals’ car with the candy bar in his hands, and Cannon shot him once in the leg, believing the teenager was carrying a weapon, according to reports.

“He didn’t give me a chance to react,” Burgess said. “I turned to see what was up, and boom, I’m hit and fell to the ground.”

Burgess said marshals left him handcuffed on the ground bleeding after the shooting.

“I’m laying there bleeding, waiting to go to the hospital, and he’s shaking hands with the other cops, or agents, whoever they were,” Burgess told The New York Times.

Burgess, the goalkeeper of the Hillcrest High School soccer team, is worried that the injury may affect his chance to play in college. The shooting has already knocked him out of the playoffs.

His coach, Howard Warhaftig, said it would “be nice if they said they were sorry.”