A 19-year-old man who was in mental distress and called 911 seeking help was fatally shot by the police in his Queens home on Tuesday after, officials said, he threatened officers with a pair of scissors and they opened fire to defend themselves.
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 p.m. 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 Mr. Rozario placed the 911 call, Chief Chell said.
When the officers tried to take Mr. 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 Mr. 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, Mr. Rozario picked up the scissors and came at the officers again, the chief said.
