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Biography · Military

Murder of Nathaniel Levi Gaines

1971–1996

United States

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Biography

Nathaniel Levi Gaines (1971 – July 4, 1996) was an African-American resident of Yonkers, New York who was fatally shot by a New York City Transit Police officer (a division of the New York City Police Department). The officer, Paolo Colecchia, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter—only the third successful homicide prosecution of a police officer in the city since 1977. Gaines was a veteran of service in the Persian Gulf War, and had no criminal record, nor any history of encounters with police or law enforcement agencies.

Sources & collection details

Wikipedia contributors — original record ↗

Black heritage reference ↗

Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

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