Body camera footage released shows the moment NYPD officers shot dead a 19-year-old resident of Queens in March.
Win Rozario’s loved ones have said police killed him in cold blood. However, cops have claimed they had no choice.
Officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco responded to a 911 call on the afternoon of March 27 at 103rd Street and 101st Avenue in Queens.
They arrived to find Rozario allegedly holding a pair of scissors.
The two officers fired their service weapons at Rozario, who was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A pair of scissors were recovered at the scene.
The body camera footage shows:
– Rozario’s younger brother outside the family’s Ozone Park home, talking to the two NYPD cops.
– The officers asking who called 911, and the brother confirming that Rozario did.
– Rozario in the kitchen with his mother.
– Rozario opening a drawer, taking out a pair of scissors, and charging toward the cops.
– The officers using a taser on him.
– Rozario’s mother taking the scissors away and putting them down.
– The officers using a taser on Rozario again after his mom moves, but Rozario continues to move toward the cops.
– Rozario moving from the kitchen into the front room.
– One officer firing a gun.
– Rozario walking back into the kitchen, and all three family members struggling with the officers.
– Rozario grabbing the scissors and walking toward the officers, when one of them fires four more shots.
– Rozario dropping.
Rozario’s family has released a statement this week, saying:
“It’s been over a month since we lost Win and our hearts are broken. We feel his absence every day. Reliving this is traumatic and painful. We wish it wasn’t necessary for the video to be public. The video that was released makes it clear that Win should be alive but the police came and murdered him in our kitchen without any care for him or us. The police created a crisis and killed him in cold blood. The officers should be fired and prosecuted for murder as soon as possible.”
The NYPD has said in a statement that it is fully cooperating with the state attorney general’s investigation into this tragic incident.
“The NYPD Force Investigation Division is also conducting an investigation. The two police officers involved remain on modified assignment. An officer on modified assignment does not carry a shield or a firearm.”
The NYPD acknowledges that there is much work to be done to improve how it responds to requests for assistance.
**”New Yorkers expect and deserve nothing less.”
