No charges for officers in Rozario shooting, AG office says
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The attorney general’s office will not bring charges against the officers who shot and killed Queens 19-year-old Win Rozario last year. Screenshot via Office of the Attorney General
By Ryan Schwach
Attorney General Letitia James’ office will not bring charges against the two NYPD officers who shot and killed Queens teenager Win Rozario in his family’s home last year while he was allegedly in the throes of a mental health crisis.
The AG’s office determined that “a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers’ use of deadly force against Mr. Rozario was justified,” and will not bring criminal charges against the Queens cops.
Rozario, a 19-year-old from Ozone Park with a history of mental illness, was shot and killed by Officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi in March of last year after calling 911 on himself.
The officers shot at the teen over the heads of his brother and mother as he came at them with a pair of scissors. The AG’s decision stems from the officers not immediately jumping to use deadly physical force, instead using their Tasers first and issuing orders to Rozario to put the scissors down.
“The reasonableness of the officers’ actions in response to Mr. Rozario’s actions cannot be disproved beyond a reasonable doubt, given that they did not resort to deadly physical force right away,” the report said. “Having twice used a Taser, and given that, 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.”
Rozario’s family, who has sued the city over the teen’s death, blasted the decision released late Thursday, calling the finding “cowardly.”
The family said that they were told about the decision not to prosecute on Wednesday after having limited conversations with the AG’s office in the past year.
“Shame on Attorney General James,” they said in a statement. “We are working-class New Yorkers who have to work to survive, and we took off work to meet with the AG’s Office last night only to learn that they are doing absolutely nothing to bring justice for Win. First, AG James keeps us in the dark, refusing to provide our family with an update for at least a year and a half. Then AG James has her staff tell us her decision and hand us a report of their investigation that is inconsistent with what we witnessed and the body worn camera footage and is biased toward the cops.”
The shooting took place March 27, 2024, and began when Rozario allegedly called 911, referred to himself as his son and said that he had taken drugs and was acting “mad erratic."
The officers arrived at the Ozone Park home shortly after and were eventually met outside by Utsho, Rozario’s 17-year-old brother. The officers appeared confused about the call that had been made to 911 and asked the teen if Rozario was “a bipolar schizo?” Utsho said that he was unsure if his brother ever had been given a mental illness diagnosis and the three people went upstairs.
Inside the apartment, Rozario stood with his mother, Notan Eva Costa. After seeing police, the teen grabbed a pair of yellow scissors from a drawer and moved toward the officers before being stopped by his mother.
Alongi almost immediately pulled out his Taser, while Cianfrocco pulled out his gun.
Alongi then fired his Taser, striking Rozario. Eva Costa continued to hold onto her son.
“Let go of him, and back up,” the police shouted. “Let go of him, miss”
Utsho, who was standing to the left of the police, said, “Please don’t shoot my mother,” a phrase he repeated throughout the remainder of the incident.
Though at one point, his mother was able to take the scissors out of Rozario’s hands, the teen eventually grabbed them again and was almost immediately shot at least four times by the officers, the bullets flying over the heads of Eva Costa and Utsho.
The entire interaction lasted only around three minutes.
Rozario was taken by ambulance to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the report said.
While the AG’s office ultimately determined to not seek charges, they had recommendations for ways the officers could have handled the situation better.
The report said that when the officers arrived at the scene, and the door was answered by Rozario’s younger brother, they failed to ask relevant questions that could have helped their response to the situation.
They should have asked “whether Mr. Rozario had a weapon, or had acted in a violent manner, or had made any violent threats or statements suggesting he might harm himself or another,” the report read.
Win Rozario’s family has called for the firing of the two officers involved in the shooting, and called the attorney general’s decision on Thursday, “cowardly.” Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
The report also called for the expansion of the city’s B-HEARD teams, which respond to cases involving New Yorkers experiencing a mental health issue.
According to the investigation, B-HEARD would not have been available for the incident because they were not assigned to the local 102nd Precinct, and since drugs were mentioned in the first 911 call, they would not have been eligible to respond.
The AG’s office said that B-HEARD programs should be expanded to all precincts and all times of day and night, and that drug- and alcohol-induced crises should be included in their duties.
The report also brings up new information, including that the fatal shooting was not the first time the officers had encountered Rozario.
In a previous incident a few months prior, Cianfrocco and Alongi, as well as other officers, responded to the Rozario home because the teen had gotten himself sick on vanilla extract – which is highly alcoholic.
Cianfrocco said he remembered Rozario as a "non-threatening kid.”
The AG’s report comes a few months after NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch charged the officers internally with misconduct following a recommendation to do so from the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which found both officers used excessive force and abused their authority during the shooting.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who ran on the promise of creating a Department of Community Safety to address mental health-related incidents, said Thursday that the NYPD’s disciplinary trial is the “correct course of action” for determining the officers’ culpability.
“Win Rozario's death was a senseless tragedy that brought pain to so many New Yorkers, most of all his loved ones,” Mamdani said in a statement to Spectrum News.
“What today's decision does not change is our obligation to do everything in our power to ensure this does not happen again, our commitment to delivering the social services New Yorkers deserve, and our investment in both genuine public safety and justice for all,” he added.
Rozario’s family also called on the CCRB to schedule a discipline trial for the officers.
“We call on Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to fire Officers Alongi and Cianfrocco, and on Mayor-elect Mamdani to remove the NYPD from mental health response,” the family said in a statement. “While it will not bring Win back, New Yorkers deserve better.”
