Two teenagers involved in a 10-hour crime spree in suburban Syracuse were shot dead by a deputy when they tried to pull him over in a stolen car, according to the sheriff.
The fatal shooting happened after deputies stopped two cars in DeWitt early Wednesday while investigating a carjacking and at least two smoke shop burglaries overnight, Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley told a news conference.
“One of the vehicles escaped. The other vehicle … tried to hit our deputy,” the sheriff said, saying it was “fast enough to hit someone and kill them.”
“He fired three shots,” he said of the deputy, who was not identified.
“He had nowhere to run,” the sheriff said. “All these things happened in a matter of seconds. He had no choice.”
The car was driven but crashed nearby, the sheriff said. A sergeant who responded to the crash found one of the teenagers dead and “performed life-saving measures with negative results” on the other occupants, Shelley said.
Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley announced Wednesday that a deputy has fatally shot two teenagers.WTVH
Officials have not identified the victims other than to say they are teenagers.
Sources told Syracuse.com they are 15 and 17 years old.
The third suspect in the car fled, as did those in the other car who stopped before the shooting.
A witness recorded the shooting, the sheriff said, without releasing the footage to the public.
Shelley said the teenagers were involved in a crime spree that began around 9 p.m. Tuesday, when a Kia and a Hyundai were stolen in Syracuse. The stolen vehicle was linked to a burglary at OQ Smokeline in Onondaga around 4 a.m., Shelley said.
Onondaga sheriff’s deputies in a residential area following a shooting.WTVH
Officers found the store’s side door broken, Syracuse.com reports, and surveillance footage showed two groups arriving in a dark van and a white sedan.
They entered through a broken door, police said, and stole an undisclosed amount of items from the store before fleeing.
The same group was also involved in a similar incident earlier in the morning in Onondaga County, Shelley said, when the vehicle was spotted in a burglary at a smoke shop on East Molloy Road in DeWitt.
The deputy who shot the teenager was investigating the burglary, Shelley said, when someone called 911 to report suspicious activity at the nearby Midler Meadows mobile home park.
The unidentified deputy fired three shots after the car’s occupants allegedly tried to hit him.WTVH
A caller at 6:18 a.m. reported seeing three or four men wearing dark clothing and moving items between a sedan and a dark minivan.
Deputies responded to the mobile home park, noticing the vehicle the caller said matched the description seen in the video from the smoke shop burglary.
The fatal shooting was the “tragic” result of a “10-hour chain of events,” said the sheriff, who said he had been in contact with the victim’s family.
The shooting is being investigated by the New York state Attorney General’s Office.WTVH
His office also liaises with the New York state District Attorney’s Office and Attorney General’s Office, which are required by law to investigate any deaths caused by police officers in the state.
Letitia James’ office confirmed that day that it was conducting a “preliminary assessment” of the fatal shooting.
The deputy is on 72 hours of paid administrative leave, standard protocol for officer-involved shootings.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/