
A 13-year-old boy was shot and killed by a police officer in Upstate New York on June 28 after allegedly fleeing police and pointing a replica handgun at them.
The boy, later identified as Nyah Mway, was approached by three Utica Police officers who believed that he and another 13-year-old boy matched the descriptions of two suspects wanted for recent robberies in the area.
According to the Utica Police Department, the officers were in the area assisting in the investigations of two recent robberies when they noticed that the two teens matched the descriptions of the robbery suspects given to police.
The suspects were “described as Asian males who brandished” a black firearm and forcibly robbed their victims,” according to the police.
Because Mway and the other teen were in the vicinity of where the robberies took place and matched the suspect descriptions, the officers approached them. When the officers attempted to frisk Nyah Mway, he fled the scene on foot and appeared to pull out a handgun and point it at the officers.
Utica Police Chief Mark Williams told reporters in a press conference the following day that Mway was shot once in the chest “during a ground struggle.”
Williams said officers immediately gave Mway first aid and transported him to Wynn Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
It was later determined that the firearm was a pellet gun designed to resemble a Glock 17 handgun.
The Utica Police identified the three officers involved as Andrew Citrinity, Bryce Patterson, and Patrick Husnay, who fired the shot. All three officers were placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
Body cam footage released on June 29 shows Nyah Mway fleeing the scene and holding a dark object. The officers are heard shouting, “Gun” before one of them tackles Mway and punches him. Another officer then fires the shot that killed Mway.