The New York attorney general’s office will not seek criminal charges against two NYPD officers who shot and killed 19-year-old Win Rozario while he was having a mental health crisis in front of his brother and mother in their Queens home in March 2024.
In a report published Thursday, the Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation concluded a prosecutor would not be able to disprove the shooting was justified. The attorney general’s office said it therefore would not recommend criminal charges in the case.
The decision comes at a moment when the city’s handling of emergency mental health calls is at the forefront of city politics. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani campaigned on overhauling the department’s response to mental health calls and has called for the creation of a separate city agency to handle some mental health calls, which he says will allow NYPD officers to focus on major crimes. The attorney general’s report includes a number of recommendations to improve responses to mental health calls.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Rozario’s family condemned the decision not to pursue charges.
“State Attorney General Letitia James’ cowardly decision not to indict NYPD Officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi for murdering our beloved son and brother, Win Rozario, feels like we’re watching Win get murdered all over again,” the statement said. “The NYPD should not be engaging with people experiencing a mental health episode.”
The officers could still face discipline inside the NYPD. In September the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an NYPD oversight body, voted to approve a number of departmental charges against the two officers. The board approved eight counts – four against each officer – including abuse of authority and excessive force.
The union that represents the officers condemned that decision and said the review board had overturned the findings by their own investigator.
Thursday’s AG report details the officers' actions prior to the shooting. Body camera footage of the shooting shows officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco entering Rozario’s Ozone Park home after Rozario apparently called 911 on himself. The officers confronted him on the second floor of the house as he was standing with his mother in the kitchen.
During the chaotic interaction, Rozario opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors, the video shows. The officers shouted at Rozario to drop the scissors, and Alongi fired at him with a Taser, but the shock did not subdue him. Rozario’s mother then briefly took the scissors out of Rozario’s hand and placed them on a nearby chair. Alongi then fired at Rozario again with a Taser, but Rozario tore the prong out of his shoulder, according to the report.
He then picked the scissors back up soon after and walked toward the officers, according to the video. The officers opened fire, shooting Rozario a total of five times, the attorney general’s report states.
The report concludes that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove that the officers were justified in using deadly force. It notes they ordered him to drop the scissors, fired at him with Tasers and did not shoot Rozario until he came close to one of the officers while holding the scissors.
“When they did use their firearms, they did not simply ‘blast away,’ but paused between shots, shouted commands, and gave Mr. Rozario opportunities to drop the scissors,” the report states.
The report notes that the city has a pilot program called B-HEARD that allows social workers and emergency medical technicians to respond to some 911 calls, rather than police. But under the city’s current policies, the call that led the officers to Rozario’s home that day would not be eligible for B-HEARD because the call reported someone on drugs.
The report lists a series of recommendations to improve the city’s responses to mental health calls. It recommends expanding B-HEARD across the city and allowing it to cover drug and alcohol calls. It also calls for allowing B-HEARD personnel to respond alongside police officers in some instances, rather than separately.
Mamdani’s plan to overhaul emergency mental health responses in the city includes expanding B-HEARD citywide.
