One Night in New York: 50 Shots

Dec. 14, 2006 — -- As police conduct their investigation into what happened in the New York borough of Queens on the night of Nov. 25, Sean Bell's friend Jean Nelson says he saw everything when the young bridegroom was shot to death by police.

"I was with him the whole day. That day was just me and him," Nelson explained in an exclusive interview with "Nightline's" Martin Bashir.

"He was buying clothes, because we was going out later on that night. We came back home. We had a little drink. He was drinking, laughing, joking," Nelson said.

Their destination on the night of Nov. 25 was the Kalua Club in Queens, near the Air Train station that ferries passengers to Kennedy airport.

It would be Bell's last night of bachelorhood before marrying his longtime girlfriend, Nicole Paultre, at a local church the following day. Little did he know that it would be his last night alive.

Another close-knit group was also heading to the Kalua Club that night. Undercover police officers, known as the Club Enforcement Task Force, gathered at the 7th Precinct in Manhattan, preparing to drive north to Queens. Since October of last year, police had been called to the club 26 times and made eight arrests for prostitution, drugs and weapons. The team would put the club under surveillance once again.

The bachelor party arrived sometime after 11 p.m. Security searched them all as they entered the club. They had no weapons or guns and enjoyed toasting Bell's good health into the early hours of the morning.

Nelson, however, says he arrived much later than the group, so late that he couldn't get in because the club was closing. It was almost 4 a.m., and he met Bell outside. He says Bell was having an argument with another man -- unknown to both of them.

"The guy was like, 'Yeah, back up'… this and that, had his hands in his pocket, like he had a gun," explained Nelson. "He was pointing his pocket, like, 'Back up, I'll shoot you.'"