According to family members, Nyah Mway completed middle school on Wednesday in the central New York city where his family relocated approximately ten years ago after fleeing Myanmar.
After tackling the 13-year-old to the ground and accusing him of pointing what seemed to be a BB gun at them during a foot pursuit, the police shot and killed him on Friday night.
His distraught family and infuriated neighbors, who are still having difficulty accepting his murder, demanded on Sunday that the police be held accountable and that he be given justice.
Lay Htoo, a cousin of Nyah, stated, “We came to the United States, finally, to get the education and to get the good jobs here” and expressed hope for a peaceful life following decades of conflict and suffering in Myanmar.
Nevertheless, his parents were waiting for the medical examiners to release the teen’s body and worried what would happen to the police, not celebrating the teen’s advancement to high school.
Utica Mayor Michael P. Galime will meet with Nyah’s relatives and other local members of the Karen ethnic group in Myanmar on Sunday afternoon while the state attorney general and the Utica Police Department look into the killing. The mayor’s office was contacted in an attempt to get a response.
The officers are on paid administrative leave at the moment.
The shooting took place on Friday night in Utica, an old industrial city that has seen a renaissance of sorts as a result of thousands of refugees from many nations settling there in recent decades.
Over 4,200 residents of the city are from Myanmar, according to The Center, an NGO that assists with refugee resettlement. The city has a population of 65,000.
Police said that Nyah and another 13-year-old kid were pulled over on Friday night because one of the teens was jaywalking and they both fit the description of suspects in an armed robbery that had taken place in the same location on Thursday.
Citing the current investigation, the police department declined to disclose the armed robbery report and accompanying suspect description on Sunday.
An officer can be heard on the body camera video stating that he must pat them down to check for weapons. Then one of the teenagers, Nyah, turns, rushes away, and seems to be pointing a black object at them.
Police added that although the cops thought it was a pistol, it turned out to be a BB or pellet gun that looked a lot like a Glock 17 Gen 5 handgun with a detachable magazine.
The device did not have the orange band that many BB gun manufacturers have put to their barrels in recent years to distinguish their products from weapons, according to an image published by the police.
Officer Patrick Husnay opened fire as the two grappled on the ground after Officer Bryce Patterson caught up with Nyah and tackled and punched him, according to body camera footage. At a press conference on Saturday, Utica Police Chief Mark Williams stated that the young person was struck in the chest by a single bullet.
In addition, a bystander video that was uploaded on Facebook showed the adolescent being tackled and punched by an officer while two more cops arrived. The teen was on the ground when a gunshot was heard.
Every fatality at the hands of law enforcement is investigated by the attorney general’s office under New York law. Whether cops adhered to training and policy will be investigated by the police department itself.
In a phone interview, she stated that, “The escalation of this should not have happened, and our police officers need to be trained a lot better or a lot differently. The city needs to be held accountable, and this should not have been done to any child.”
Read Also:Â 23-Year-Old Man Arrested for Boston Mission Hill Bar Fire
The military government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is at odds with a number of communities, including the Karen people. The military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected administration in 2021 and put an end to several peaceful demonstrations calling for a restoration to democratic governance.
According to Htoo, Nyah’s family emigrated from Myanmar about 20 years ago and arrived in Thailand, where he was born in a camp for refugees. About nine years ago, they immigrated to the US through a resettlement program. The teen’s father, he claimed, is employed at a convenience shop.
When Nyah wasn’t taking care of his younger siblings, Htoo said he enjoyed math, soccer, and hanging out with friends. His family is Buddhist, but he was curious and occasionally went to Bible study with his pals, according to the relative.
The youngster told his mother he was going to the store to buy something on Friday night, and that was the last time she saw him, according to the cousin.
He claimed that since then, she has only taken 10-minute naps and that whenever she wakes up, she starts crying again.
