Relatives of a 13-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police in central New York are demanding justice. Members of their immigrant community from Myanmar on Sunday aimed to press local officials for accountability.
The state attorney general is investigating the shooting of Nyah Mway.
Utica police tackled him to the ground and then shot him after a foot chase Friday. Police have released body camera video that showed a youth appearing to aim an object at them before they took him to the ground. Police say it was a BB gun that looked like an actual firearm.
Police say Nyah Mway and another 13-year-old boy were stopped because they fit descriptions of suspects in an armed robbery Thursday. At a vigil Saturday, attendees questioned officials’ account of the shooting.
On Wednesday, Nyah Mway finished middle school in the central New York city, where his family moved about a decade ago as refugees from Myanmar, relatives said.
By Friday night, the 13-year-old was fatally shot by police who’d tackled him to the ground after he allegedly pointed what turned out to be a BB gun at them during a foot chase.
Struggling to comprehend his death, his anguished relatives and outraged members of their immigrant community, on Sunday called for justice for him and accountability for police.
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“We came to the United States, finally, to get the education and to get the good jobs here” and hoping for a peaceful life after decades of strife and violence in Myanmar, said Lay Htoo, who identified himself as one of Nyah’s cousins.
But instead of celebrating the teen’s ascent to high school, his parents were waiting for medical examiners to release his body and wondering what would become of the officers.
“They want them to be in prison forever,” the cousin said in a phone interview.
As the state attorney general and the Utica Police Department investigate the shooting, Nyah’s relatives and other local members of Myanmar’s Karen ethnic minority said they planned to meet Sunday afternoon with Utica Mayor Michael P. Galime. A message seeking comment was sent to the mayor’s office.
For now, the officers are on paid administrative leave.
The shooting happened Friday night in Utica, an old industrial city where thousands of refugees from various countries have settled in recent decades, creating a measure of revival in a faded Rust Belt hub. The city’s population of 65,000 includes more than 4,200 people from Myanmar, according to The Center, a nonprofit group that helps to resettle refugees.
According to police, Nyah and another 13-year-old boy were stopped Friday night because they fit descriptions of suspects in an armed robbery that had happened Thursday in the same area, and because one teen was jaywalking. The police department declined Sunday to release the armed robbery report and its suspect description, citing the ongoing investigation.
The body camera video shows an officer saying he needs to pat them down for any weapons. Then one of the teens — identified as Nyah — runs away, turns and appears to point a black item at them.
The officers believed it was a handgun, police said, but it was later determined to be a BB or pellet gun that closely resembled a Glock 17 Gen 5 handgun with a detachable magazine.
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