NY police kill groom, wound two outside strip club

NEW YORK, Nov 25 (Reuters) A 23-year-old bridegroom was shot and killed on his wedding day and two other men were wounded outside a New York strip club today after police opened fire on them, police said.

The groom, Sean Bell, and two friends were shot by police in an unmarked car as they left Bell's bachelor party at Club Kalua in the Jamaica section in the New York City borough of Queens, a police spokesman said.

A witness told local television that the men were headed to a diner for breakfast when the shooting occurred.

Bell, a father of two, was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center shortly after 4 am EST (0900 GMT) today. The others were in critical but stable condition at another hospital.

As many as eight officers were involved in the incident, said police, who could not explain why the shooting occurred.

The incident is under investigation, police said.

Reuters DH VP0220