NYPD Missed Chance To De-Escalate Fatal Shooting Of Queens Teenager, Family's Suit Claims

By Yoav Gonen, The City

June 24, 2025

The family of 19-year-old Win Rozario, who was fatally shot by NYPD officers at his home in Queens last year after his mom tried to shield him, filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the officers of botching the response and their colleagues of mistreating the family afterwards.

The court papers charge officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvator Alongi with escalating the situation rapidly, contrary to standard protocol of dealing with people who are in mental distress, as Rozario was — even as the young man’s mother, Notan Eva Costa, and younger brother, Utsho Rozario, tried to calm things down.

Rozario was shot and killed within two minutes of the officers entering the home in response to a 911 call of a person acting erratically, which turned out to be made by Win Rozario himself.

“Defendant Officers’ quick resort to force, repeated and loud shouting, and aggressive actions escalated and exacerbated the situation, making Mr. Rozario fear for his life,” the lawsuit filed by Beldock, Levine & Hoffman LLP reads.

The lawsuit asserts the police response is part of a wider pattern of the NYPD’s inability to safely handle cases of people in mental distress and says 20 such incidents since 2015 have ended with police in New York City killing the person who was in need of help.

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry noted that the Rozario case highlights the difficult situation police officers face when they respond to some emergency calls.

“These police officers were faced with an individual who was holding a weapon and endangering multiple people. As the body camera footage makes clear, they were trying to minimize the risks to everyone in that room and were forced to make split-second decisions based on those risks,” he said. “They deserve a fair investigation based on facts and the law.”

In the shooting on March 27, 2024, the lawsuit says the officers missed opportunities to de-escalate things after the 19-year-old initially came at them with a pair of scissors he pulled from a kitchen drawer.

At that point, Officer Alongi tased Rozario, who fell to the floor. His mom grabbed the pair of scissors from him and stayed near her son as he stood up.

The officers yelled at Costa to move away from Win Rozario, and she responded, “Don’t shoot.”

When she moved away, however, Alongi tased him again, body-worn camera footage of the incident shows.

“Without issuing a warning or command, Defendant Alongi tased Mr. Rozario a second time,” the lawsuit says. “At that point, Mr. Rozario had not been carrying scissors, he had not been moving towards Defendants, and he had been standing on the opposite end of the kitchen from Defendants, who stood in the living room.”

After being tased a second time, Rozario grabbed the scissors his mom had placed on a chair and came at the officers again, the footage shows. After Rozario reached the living room, Cianfrocco shot him in the arm.

At that point, Costa tried to grab the scissors out of her son’s hand, as Utsho tried to move his mom out of harm’s way, leading the three of them to fall in a heap at the kitchen entrance.

Win Rozario was the first to stand, clutching the scissors. He backed away into the kitchen with his mom and brother still on the floor between him and the cops, the footage shows.

When he went to take a step forward, Cianfrocco shot him. The lawsuit notes that Rozario stumbled back.

“In total, in the period that Mr. Rozario had been standing behind his mother and brother, already weakened from the first gunshot, Defendant Cianfrocco shot Mr. Rozario in the chest four times,” the lawsuit says. “Mr. Rozario did not move towards Defendant Cianfrocco after any of these shots. Still, Defendant Cianfrocco chose to continue firing shots.”

A spokesperson for the City Law Department declined to comment, saying the city would respond in the litigation.

An NYPD spokesperson who didn’t identify themselves wrote in an email that the department will review the lawsuit if and when it is served. The spokesperson said the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is still reviewing the incident, which is also under criminal investigation by the state’s Attorney General.

Family Questioned in Aftermath

The Rozario family immigrated to New York from Bangladesh in 2014, when Win was 9, according to the lawsuit. It says he struggled with anxiety and depression and was hospitalized briefly in 2022 and 2023, but that he was on an upward trajectory in the six months prior to the shooting.

After the fifth shot was fired, the officers pushed Costa out of the kitchen even though she wanted to be by her son’s side, the filing says.

It also says the officers handcuffed Rozario before seeking to provide him medical care, and that they performed chest compressions without rescue breaths, and were slow to check his pulse.

According to body-worn camera footage obtained by THE CITY that includes the aftermath of the shooting, a slew of officers soon arrived on scene. Two of them took over Win Rozario’s medical care until EMS workers arrived, and another two led Costa and Utsho to the living room couch and instructed them not to enter the kitchen.

“Sit down. Sit down. Miss, don’t go in,” one of them told Costa, the footage shows. He later told her: “Mom, sit down. Relax.”

Utsho, who alternated between sobbing and seeking to comfort his mom with a hug, asked the officers multiple times if he could call his dad to let him know what happened.

“I need you to sit,” one of them responded. “Sit!”

At the same time, one of the officers asked Costa about Win Rozario’s mental health.

“He’s been suffering from mental illness for a long time?” he asked. “How many years?”

An officer later explained that they were barring Costa and Utsho from the kitchen because it contained evidence of what happened.

Three minutes after EMS workers arrived, one of them asked the officers if they could uncuff Rozario. A sergeant told them they could.

Costa and Utsho Rozario were later taken to a back bedroom for about 10 minutes, after which an officer said Utsho could use the officer’s phone to call his dad.

When Rozario was removed from the apartment by the EMS workers, the officers told his mother and brother they should dress warmly and come outside. At that point an officer retrieved their phones from the kitchen.

The lawsuit says the questioning continued at the precinct, where Costa and Utsho were interviewed separately, and that neither of them was notified about Rozario’s death until after the questioning finished.

It notes they were asked about “intimate details regarding Mr. Rozario’s mental health and whether he had a propensity for violence.”

The family was kept out of the apartment for three days, and was barred from grabbing medicine or feeding their cat, the lawsuit says. They returned home to find Rozario’s blood on the kitchen floors and cabinets, it says.

The body camera footage obtained by THE CITY shows Cianfrocco and Alongi being ushered out of the apartment by a supervisor. They had their cameras and guns immediately confiscated and were taken to a sidewalk further away from the scene.

“I’m shaking, but…trying to catch my breath,” Alongi said when someone asked how he was doing.

He and Cianfrocco exchanged a tight hug, the footage shows. A sergeant approached and asked if they were OK, ushering them into an unmarked vehicle.

“I don’t want everybody looking at you,” she said. “Get in.”

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.