News: Nassau Police Shoot LI Man
(Long Island, N.Y.) A twenty-three-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday morning while attempting to evade officers at his Point Lookout home. The shooting occurred about fifteen minutes to three that morning after Nassau County Police officers surrounded his home. He was a senior and psychology major at Queens College where he played baseball as an outfielder and catcher.
Officers from the Nassau County Police Department have told the press that he was the subject of a 911 call they received at roughly ten-thirty Monday night. They said that he had been kicked out of the Buoy Bar in Point Lookout, located just a quarter-mile away from his home.
The officers also said that he could have been the subject of another 911 call that occurred at five minutes to midnight. The complaint was from a neighbor who said that someone entered her home but left through the front door after she yelled. Police said that she recalled the person could have been carrying a weapon or tool or even a screwdriver. Nonetheless, no reports have mentioned the possibility that he could have mistaken her home for his and entered the wrong home.
After the alleged incident, he fled to his family’s home a short distance away and refused to speak to police. His father said that he had been sleeping when police surrounded the home, and that he tried to persuade his son to speak with them. He evaded officers by exiting the home through the backyard.
Police officers said that they asked him to drop his alleged weapon, claiming that he had been carrying a twelve-inch knife when they shot and killed him. His parents said that he was unarmed, and was running away when he was shot twice in the back. Some reports stated that officers fired at least three shots, killing him with a single bullet to the head.
A neighbor claimed that his body was visible but that no weapon could be seen in the area. According to sources, his twenty-nine-year-old brother said that over twenty cops responded to the scene and surrounded the house while he was running away. Some stories on the case said that the cops were dressed for heavy-duty combat and depicted a SWAT team. Reports claimed that his parents believe he was shot because he was scared and wouldn’t speak to police.
Sources stated that many believe the police officers used excessive force against the five-foot-eight and one-hundred-and-forty-pound man. Police officers wouldn’t identify him and his mother revealed that her son had been shot. The officer who shot and killed him was a member of the Fourth Precinct and had been on the force since November of 2007.
This is the second police shooting involving the Nassau County Police Department that occurred in two days. Reports claimed that three officers shot and wounded a twenty-one-year-old Hofstra University student on Monday after a car chase in Oyster Bay. Earlier this year, Nassau County Police Officers shot and killed a twenty-one-year-old who was allegedly carrying a knife in Massapequa Park; the incident resulted in a loss of a police officer by friendly fire.
The twenty-three-year-old man was a 2006 graduate of Long Beach High School where he made all-conference, all-county, and all-division for baseball in three consecutive years. He was the team’s captain for two years and hit twice over .400, raking top-ten in the school’s history. He ranked in the top five in the school’s history for stolen bases and later worked as a baseball coach and ski instructor.
Classmates remember him as a gifted individual who could always be counted on to make a funny joke. Those who knew him are shocked at the tragic outcome, being that he was nonaggressive and never posed a threat of violence. He was a good student with a warm disposition and will be missed by the entire community.
