International Desk

A Bangladeshi youth was killed by the police in New York, USA.

The 19-year-old youth who was in mental distress and called 911 seeking help was fatally shot by the police in his Queens home on Wednesday after, officials said, he threatened officers with a pair of scissors and they opened fire.

But the man’s brother, who witnessed the shooting, contradicted aspects of the police account of events, saying his mother was restraining her son when he was shot and insisting that the officers had not needed to fire their guns.

The man, Win Rozario, was declared dead shortly after the shooting, which occurred around 1:45 pm in his family’s second-floor apartment on 103rd Street in Ozone Park, police officials said.

John Chell, the Police Department’s chief of patrol, said at a news conference that the shooting took place after two officers answering a 911 call about a person in mental distress went to the apartment, where the situation became “quite hectic, chaotic and dangerous right away.” The police believe Rozario placed the 911 call, Chief Chell said.

When the officers tried to take Rozario into custody, he pulled the scissors out of a drawer and “came toward” the officers, the chief said. Both officers fired their Tasers at Rozario and appeared to have him subdued, Chief Chell said.

“But a mother, being a mother, came to the aid of her son to help him, but in doing so she accidentally knocked the Tasers out of his body,” the chief said. At that point, Rozario picked up the scissors and came at the officers again, the chief said.

“They had no choice but to defend themselves, discharging their firearms,” Chief Chell said.

He did not say how many times Rozario had been shot. Rozario’s family said it was six times. The entire episode was captured by officers’ body-worn cameras, the chief said. The footage was not immediately released.

Rozario’s 17-year-old brother, Ushto Rozario, contradicted the police account in an interview. He said his mother had been holding his brother in her arms throughout the encounter.

“As my mother was still hugging him, they shot him with the Taser,” he said. “So they shot him with the Tasers, and my brother didn’t really go down. So one of the cops pulled out a gun and shot him as my mother still hugging him.”

Source : nytimes