‘Please Don’t Shoot My Mom!’: Body-Cam Footage Shows Rapidly Escalating Moments Before Cops Killed Win Rozario

The mother and brother of Win Rozario, a Queens teen in mental distress, begged police officers not to shoot before they fired multiple fatal rounds at him, according to video released by state Attorney General Letitia James on Friday.

The distressing body camera footage — which took place in late March in Ozone Park after Rozario called 911 — comes less than a day after THE CITY reported the family was frustrated and had called on the police to release the videos and names of the officers.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell has defended the killing, noting that the 19-year-old had grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer and moved toward the officers.

The released footage confirms that, but it also shows how the situation rapidly escalated, with officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi tasing and then fatally shooting Rozario, all within three minutes of arriving at the home. The video released by the Attorney General’s Office lists only the officers’ last names.

On Friday afternoon, Rozario’s family said “the officers should be fired and prosecuted for murder as soon as possible.

“It’s been over a month since we lost Win,” the statement said. “And we miss him everyday.”

Reliving the fatal shooting is “painful and traumatic” the family added, noting they wished the video didn’t need to be made 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 family said. “The police created a crisis and killed him in cold blood.”

Heart-Breaking Scene

The video shows the officers first talking to someone who identifies himself as Win’s brother, Utsho, outside the home. The brother tells the officers that Win called 911 and adds that “he’s having an episode.”

“What kind of episode? Is he a bipolar schizo, like?” one officer asked.

“He don’t even know what he’s doing to be honest with you,” his brother, Utsho, replied.

When the officers were brought upstairs to their home, they said “What’s up, pal?” to Win, who was with his mother.

Moments after he saw the officers Win went into the kitchen drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors — and police immediately tased him. His mother grabbed him and also took the scissors from him as police yelled at her to “let go of him and back up.”

“Please don’t shoot my mother,” Utsho pleaded from the adjacent living room, inches from the police officers, with his hands up.

“We’re not! Tell her to get the f–k out of the way!” one officer said.

After his mom let go of her son, police tased him again.

“Don’t shoot!” his mother begs the officers.

He did not fall and instead again grabbed the scissors from a chair in the kitchen and moved towards the officers.

His mother then forcefully pushes him back into the kitchen away from the officers.

“Get out of the way!” one officer repeatedly yells at her.

Win then sways and holds the scissors by his side.

“No! No! Put it down!” an officer yells before shooting Win multiple times.

Police have not said how many times he was hit or which officer shot him. The video seems to show he was shot at least five times.

In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams said that his “heart is broken.”

“The thought of a parent burying their child, let alone witnessing their child’s final moments, is unimaginable,” he said.

Training and Discipline

A mayoral spokesperson added that the Adams administration would be “implementing new protocols to overhaul its internal discipline case process — reducing the time it takes to adjudicate reports of misconduct and significantly reducing the amount of time it takes to resolve civilian complaints.”

One police expert questioned parts of the interaction — and said it could have been avoided if the officers used more caution.

Charles Lieberman, a retired NYPD detective who helped create the department’s current training for handling people in crisis, said Rosario was “at a distance” from the cops and the officers “may have had more time to attempt other methods to de-escalate the situation and/or choose another course of action.”

“While the officer may have been legally justified in using deadly physical force, this was a situation in which the officers were made aware that the person that called the police was having a mental health crisis, because the caller was asking for help for themselves,” he added.

The fatal shooting didn’t need to happen, he concluded.

“The officers could have isolated and contained the person until additional units with specialized training and equipment were available,” he said.

Regarding the Rozario family’s request for murder charges, a spokesperson for Queens District Attorney Melida Katz simply said, “This matter is being handled by the AG’s office.”

Another policing expert wondered why Rozario was tased a second time after he put down the scissors.

“I’d question when the mother was separated from him the decision to tase him again,” said Dennis Kenney , a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“He didn’t make the final advance until after,” Kenny added. “That would have been the opportunity to de-escalate.”

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