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The New York City Police Department released body camera footage showing the moment an officer shot a mentally ill man who was allegedly charging him with a knife amid calls from NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani for mental health treatment instead of criminal charges.
Jabez Chakraborty, 22, was holding a large kitchen knife and charged at officers who responded to an emergency call from his family in Queens on Jan. 26, according to the NYPD.
The footage, released by the NYPD on Tuesday, shows an officer entering the living room of the home, where Chakraborty was allegedly brandishing a knife. Officers are heard attempting to de-escalate the situation, repeatedly ordering him to “put the knife down,” but Chakraborty continued to move toward the officer, according to the NYPD.
A woman is seen in the footage attempting to block Chakraborty with her arm, but he continued to step forward while carrying the knife. The footage shows the NYPD officer reposition himself in the home’s vestibule and closing the door between himself and the living room.
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Newly released NYPD bodycam footage shows an officer shooting a man allegedly carrying a knife during an emergency response inside a Queens home. (NYPD)
According to the NYPD, Chakraborty then pushed through the door and stepped toward the officer with the knife.
The officer discharged his weapon, hitting Chakraborty four times. He was taken to the hospital, where he remains in intensive care in stable but critical condition.
The clip released by the NYPD begins with audio of a 911 call from “a civilian witness” reporting that Chakraborty was experiencing a mental health episode and had thrown a glass against the wall. The caller requested EMS, not police, asking for an ambulance so that Chakraborty could be taken involuntarily to the hospital.
The incident is being investigated by the Queens District Attorney’s office, with preliminary reports suggesting prosecutors are looking at potentially seeking an indictment for attempted murder.
Mamdani, however, said at a news conference on Tuesday that Chakraborty should receive mental health treatment and not face criminal charges.
“In viewing this footage, it is clear to me that what Jabez needs is mental health treatment, not criminal prosecution from a district attorney, and we are talking about a family that is enduring the kind of pain that no family should and an individual that has lived with schizophrenia for many years,” the mayor said.
“A person experiencing a mental health episode does not always have to be served first or exclusively by a police officer. It is important for us to have all of the options available,” he added.
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Jabez Chakraborty, 22, was allegedly holding a large kitchen knife and charged at the officers who responded to the emergency call from the family. (NYPD)
Mamdani said he met with Chakraborty’s family, who had criticized him for his initial response to the shooting. The mayor said hours after the shooting that police had “encountered an individual wielding a knife,” and that he was “grateful to the first responders who put themselves on the line each day to keep our communities safe.”
Chakraborty’s family released a statement Wednesday accusing law enforcement of causing the situation to “escalate quickly and unnecessarily.”
“Rather than de-escalate the situation, the officer instead further escalated by drawing his gun and yelling orders at Jabez,” the family wrote. “Within a minute of NYPD’s arrival, Jabez was shot multiple times and almost killed, while he was calmly eating food just minutes earlier.”
The family called on the Queens DA’s office to “drop the prosecution against our son,” and for the NYPD to release additional body camera footage from the incident.
The family argued that police officers should not be responding to medical support calls.
The NYPD released bodycam video showing the moments leading up to a police shooting during a mental health crisis response. (NYPD)
“Given our experience, and that of many other families, we call on the Mayor for systems where we can call for responders who are not police,” the family wrote. “We call for changes where the needs of families in the aftermath of such incidents are centered rather than further traumatized over and over.”
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said in a statement to Digital that the body camera footage “makes it clear that these police officers walked into an unpredictable, fast-moving and dangerous situation.”
“There was no time or space for them to de-escalate the situation before they were forced to act,” he added. “They did their job professionally and with restraint under terrible circumstances.”
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Digital has reached out to the NYPD for comment.
Digital Landon Mion contributed to this report.
