Police officer fatally shoots man in Queens apartment, officials say

A New York City police officer shot and killed a man in a Queens apartment Monday who officials said pointed an “imitation rifle” at officers responding to a 911 call reporting shots had been fired into the building.

The man, whom police did not immediately identify, refused officers' orders to drop what appeared to them to be a real firearm, police chief Jeffrey B. Maddrey said at a news conference.

“It looks like it's an imitation gun,” he said.

Chief Maddrey did not say whether the officers had worn and activated body cameras during the shooting, although the circumstances he described suggested they should have. according to police guidelines. One of the officers fired “several shots,” he said, hitting the man at least once.

The shooting happened shortly after 10:30 a.m. in a fourth-floor apartment of the Ocean Bay Apartments public housing complex in the Arverne section of the Rockaway Peninsula, Chief Maddrey said.

Two uniformed officers who responded to the 911 call responded to the address and then went to the apartment based on an initial investigation, Chief Maddrey said. He didn't say who called.

Lamont Davis, a doorman, said he was sweeping outside the building where the shooting occurred when two police officers appeared and asked if he had heard anything unusual. He said he said no. They told him they were responding to a report of gunfire, Mr. Davis said.

Soon, two more officers arrived and asked the same question, he said. After a short time, two of the four officers left and wished him a good day. He said he saw the other two enter the building.

Chief Maddrey said a man who opened the apartment door let two officers inside and directed them to a rear bedroom where a second man was.

The officers told the man in the bedroom to open the door, Chief Maddrey said. When the man did so, he held what appeared to be a gun and pointed it at the officers, who told him to drop it, the chief said. When the man didn't, one of the officers opened fire, the chief said.

A woman who identified herself as a neighbor said she heard the crash of something heavy hitting the ground around 10:30 a.m. (she declined to give her name for fear of retaliation).

Police officers performed life-saving measures, Chief Maddrey said, but the man was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.

Mr. Davis, the doorman, said that minutes after he spoke to the four police officers, the two who had left came sprinting back. They ran into the building and shouted at him to 'get out'.

Emergency services arrived, Mr Davis said, and he saw a young man, who looked to be in his mid-20s, being taken away on a stretcher.

“No moaning, no groaning, no moving toes,” Mr. Davis said. “The flesh may be alive, but the spirit is gone.”

Chief Maddrey said that, contrary to what the 911 caller reported, no shots were fired at the address before police arrived. He showed a picture of the gun he said was recovered at the scene.

The shooting is being investigated by the police department's Force Investigation Division, the chief said.

An initial investigation revealed that the man who was shot had no previous interactions with police, Chief Maddrey said, and that both he and the man who answered the door lived in the apartment.

The woman who described herself as a neighbor said the people in the apartment where the shooting occurred were a quiet family from Jamaica who had lived in the building for more than 15 years.

She said her daughter had attended Public School 105 with the man who was shot, whom she described as the youngest child in the family.

The woman said her daughter had often helped him with his homework when they were children, but they grew apart after her daughter went to college in Florida.

“It's really shocking to me,” she said.

The attorney general's office, which is authorized to investigate cases where police officers cause the deaths of civilians, confirmed it had begun a preliminary review of the shooting. Depending on the outcome of that assessment, a formal investigation could be opened.

Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, who represents the area on the City Council, said she had been notified of the shooting and looked forward to “a thorough and complete investigation.”

New York City police officers fired their weapons 40 times last year through December 23, according to department data. That was a decrease of 35 percent compared to the 62 weapons discharges recorded in 2022.

Nate Schweber contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.