By Rick Pfeiffer and Robert Creenan
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Moments after pulling up to a scene, two patrol officers found themselves engaged in a fierce exchange of gunfire with a male suspect.
When the shooting stopped, a 53-year-old man lay dead on the sidewalk.
Friday morning, Niagara Falls Police Department brass said they believe the shooting was justified. An investigation of the shooting is underway, conducted by Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) detectives along with investigators from the New York Attorney General’s Office.
The two officers involved in the shooting have not been publicly identified, nor has the suspect. One of the officers is a female, with roughly 2-1/2 years on the job. The other officer is male and has been with NFPD for 1-1/2 years, after transferring from another Niagara County law enforcement agency.
The dead man reportedly is originally from the Bronx, and was most recently been living in Niagara Falls. The release of his name is pending the notification of his family, which is being conducted by the Attorney General’s Office.
The attorney general’s investigation is expected to take several months. The AG’s office is still investigating a fatal police-involved shooting in the Town of Niagara in November 2022.
Audio recordings of NFPD dispatchers show that patrol officers were called at 9:35 p.m. to check out a report of “shots heard, possible shots fired.”
“Do I have a car available for a shots heard, possible shots fired, at 942 Niagara Avenue?” a dispatcher asks. “People outside screaming, ‘Call police.’ Caller heard one gun shot.”
A female officer replies, “I’m heading there.” A moment later a male officer tells dispatchers, “I can head over there.”
A police lieutenant and another officer also radio that they are heading to the Niagara Avenue call. Less than 90 seconds after the call was dispatched, the female office says, “All right, I’m pulling up.” The male officer joins her on scene 20 seconds later.
Video from the body-worn camera of the female officer shows her getting out of her patrol vehicle and a woman yelling, “Right now, he shot at my car.”
The female officer asks, “Who?” and the woman responds, “Him,” as she points to a man standing in front of what appears to be an apartment building. The officer then yells, “Show your hands! Show your hands!”
The video shows the officer raising her gun and continuing to tell the suspect to show his hands. Video from the male officer’s body-worn camera shows him arriving, getting out of his car and running toward the first officer, while also yelling for the suspect to “Show your hands.”
The suspect then raises his hands, and officers see a gun in his right hand. The female officer can be heard saying, repeatedly, “Put the gun down! Put the gun down!”
The male officer repeats the command and a split second later the sound of a gunshot can be heard. The video appears to capture two muzzle flashes from the suspect’s gun, followed by rapid fire from the two police officers.
The entire shootout lasts just four seconds. Police commanders said a preliminary analysis of the crime scene led to the recovery of roughly two dozen spent shell casings.
One bullet, believed to be from the suspect’s gun, penetrated the driver’s side door of the female officer’s patrol car. Neither officer was struck by the gunfire or wounded.
Both officers are now on paid administrative leave.
The suspect can be seen in the video crumpling to the ground. The officers begin performing CPR as he lays on the sidewalk in a pool of blood.
One officer can be heard telling another, “He’s shot here in the throat.” The man was also shot once in the abdomen.
The man was taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Crime Scene Unit detectives said they recovered a .22-caliber Luger revolver, with three, out of a possible six bullets, still in its cylinder.
“It happened quickly, and as (the female officer) was pleading (with the suspect) to drop the gun, you saw a muzzle flash,” Police Superintendent John Faso said at a Friday morning news conference. “That came from (the suspect’s) handgun, shooting at our officers. He was advancing toward my officers and he had the gun in his right hand and dropped the gun and fired at my officers. And they returned fire.”
Faso said the bullet that struck the female officer’s car “narrowly missed her.”
“Just a little to the left and this could have been a totally different outcome,” he said.
CID Detective Captain John Conti said during the time that the suspect has been living in the city, he has “been a victim of an assault and a larceny and was involved in a domestic incident.” Conti said he did not have “an extensive criminal history” but had served time for a previous gun possession conviction.
Investigators from the Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) were present at the scene after the shooting.
"(The officers) did exactly what they’re trained to do in a horrible, horrible situation,” Faso said.
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