On Wednesday, 19-year-old Win Rozario was shot and killed by police officers after calling 911 while experiencing mental distress.
NYPD officers shot and killed a 19-year-old man in Queens after he had called 911 while experiencing a mental-health crisis. Officials say that Win Rozario brandished a pair of scissors at the officers who responded to the scene and approached them, prompting them to fire their weapons. However, family members of Rozario have disputed the department’s official account of events. Here’s what we know so far.
What do authorities say happened?
During a press conference after the shooting, NYPD chief of patrol John Chell told reporters that two officers arrived on the scene in Ozone Park, Queens, at 1:40 p.m. after receiving a 911 call from a man in “mental distress.” He said the officers entered the second-floor apartment and that the scene became “hectic, chaotic, and dangerous.”
As the officers tried to take the man who made the call, 19-year-old Win Rozario, into custody, he pulled a pair of scissors out of a nearby drawer and began to approach them. The two officers then fired their Tasers, striking him. But according to Chell, Rozario’s mother went over to aid her son and knocked the Tasers’ charges off his body. “At this point, the male picked up the scissors again, came at our officers. They had no choice but to defend themselves, discharging their firearms,” Chell said.
Rozario was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
