Brooklyn Family Rallies Against NYPD Over Fatal Shooting

The family of Christin Emile, a 33-year-old Brooklyn resident and father of four who was fatally shot by New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers in May, rallied at City Hall Monday to call on the city to fire the officers involved and for their immediate indictment on criminal charges. 

“Christin Emile, our son, loved one, and a devoted father of four, was robbed of a full life, and this is a loss that our family will have to shoulder for the rest of our days,” said Tarnisha Woolard, Christin Emile’s mother. “We demand justice for Christin, and the NYPD officers who killed him must be held accountable for their actions, immediately fired, and charged with murder. No longer should NYPD officers who commit such heinous acts be allowed to continue to police our neighborhoods with a badge and a gun.”

New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday released the body-worn camera and surveillance footage.
 
On May 12, 2024, at around 1:00am, Emile was confronted by NYPD officers in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. NYPD officers at the scene initially claimed he pointed a gun at a police officer prior to the shooting, later publicly claiming instead that he pointed a gun at a bystander. Both the surveillance and body-worn camera footage reveal that these contradictory claims were each unfounded, according to a press release from Kaishian & Mortazavi LLC, the law firm representing the Emile family.
 
The unredacted body-worn camera footage, which the Emile family and counsel reviewed at the Attorney General’s office, captures NYPD officers saying, in sum in substance, that Christin pointed a gun at them, which prompted the officers to discharge their firearms. 

Preliminary information suggests Emile was shot at least six times, and at least one bystander was also shot by NYPD officers. NYPD gunfire also caused damage to a bodega and a nearby apartment building. A business owner stated that five bullets came through the front of the store’s glass door, forcing him to hide behind a counter because “bullets were coming in everywhere.” There are no allegations that anyone fired a weapon other than NYPD members, according to the news release. 
 
A full autopsy report from the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is forthcoming.
 
The family also released the names of the three NYPD members of service involved: Sergeant Kyle Sforza, Police Officer Brian Mejia-Morel and Police Officer Alexander Campos. Both Mejia-Morel and Sforza have been named as defendants in respective civil lawsuits alleging misconduct.
 
Officer Mejia-Morel was a defendant in Bryan Baez v. The City of New York, litigation which resulted in a $70,000 settlement. In that instance, Mejia-Morel allegedly unlawfully stopped, questioned, assaulted and falsely arrested Baez without probable cause or legal justification.

“Instead of trying to deescalate the situation, NYPD officers employed fatal use of force on first impulse, resulting in Christin’s brutal killing,” said MK Kaishian, the attorney to the Emile family. “The Emile family, especially his four young children, will have to cope with his absence for the rest of their lives, and we echo their calls for the NYPD officers involved to be immediately fired and indicted on criminal charges.”