NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — One person is dead following an officer-involved shooting in the city of Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls Police say officers responded to a call of shots fired at an apartment complex at 942 Niagara Avenue on Thursday around 9:30 p.m. When officers arrived on scene, they encountered a 53-year-old male from Niagara Falls with a handgun.
The Niagara Falls Police Department released bodycam footage of the incident.
The body cam footage shows at least two officers responding, one male and one female. When they arrived, a woman told them a man was shooting at her car. Police could be heard in the video making numerous requests for the 53-year-old to drop the gun. Police say the male subject had the gun in his right hand and was seen approaching officers. Niagara Falls Police Superintendent John Faso says the 53-year-old raised his arms with the gun after officers told him to do so, but then fired, hitting the female officer's patrol car and just missing her.
Police returned fire, striking the man with multiple shots.
"Both officers gave numerous verbal commands for him to drop the gun," Faso said of the events leading up to the shooting.
The police officers performed CPR on the male subject before he was transported to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, where he was declared dead.
The 53-year-old man's identity has not been released, but Niagara Falls Police Captain John Conti said the male spent most of his life in the Bronx and had "no extensive criminal history" in Western New York. In the past few months, the man was a victim of larceny and assault, as well as a domestic dispute prior to the shooting.
Conti did make it clear that the man and woman were "familiar" with each other, but that the investigation was still in the early stages.
According to Conti, the gun recovered was a .22 caliber Ruger revolver. There were six rounds in the gun, with three fired and three in the weapon, according to officials.
2 On Your Side was able to speak with Michael Rice, a resident who lives near where the shooting occurred. "I just heard what happened. It's shocking but it's prevalent," Rice said.
Rice said that the crime in the area goes in cycles, with the beginning of the month seeing more resources and less crime. He said that the crime gets worse towards the end of the month.
The officers were placed on paid administrative leave per "protocol" according to Faso. They both have been with the department for about two years.
"I spoke to both of them [the officers] this morning. Obviously that's my main concern right now," Faso said. Faso also added he will supply them with every resource available due to the traumatic nature of the incident.
None of the responding officers were injured.
The New York State Attorney General Letitia James said Friday in a press release that the Office of Special Investigation (OSI) will be investigating the shooting. New York State law requires OSI to investigate all fatal incidents that involved a law enforcement official.
WARNING: The video below contains scenes that may be disturbing to some.