Police-Involved Shooting Leaves Far Rockaway Man Dead

By Katie McFadden

A police officer involved shooting in Far Rockaway resulted in a 29-year-old man being killed on Sunday, December 21. According to police, the man charged at responding officers with a box cutter, when they shot him.

Police were responding to a dispute between a father and son at an apartment building on Nameoke Street at around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday. According to police, two officers found Chez Fray’s parents outside before they all went in to confront him, but he was missing from the apartment. When they stepped back into the hallway, they found Fray holding a box cutter. He allegedly started fighting with his father again and the officers asked him to drop the box cutter. He refused, the father retreated behind the officers, and the man allegedly charged at them, weapon in hand. One officer discharged a taser, while a second officer who was closer to Fray discharged her weapon, shooting him. They attempted to perform CPR and the man was transported to Jamaica Hospital, but he did not survive.

After the shooting, Fray’s parents, Kevin Fray and Sheanette Dunbar, and civil rights leader Rev. Kevin McCall held a press conference outside of the 101st Precinct on Monday and shared a different version of events. McCall said Fray had been acting erratically after using marijuana, and the father never had an altercation with the son in the hallway, but instead was embracing him and told him he loved him and wanted to get him help. McCall said Fray never charged the officers with the box cutter he had used to cut marijuana.

The family is demanding police body cam footage be released. The incident is under investigation by the state Attorney General’s office.