Dispatcher warned of Jamesville teen’s airgun and ‘suicide by cop’ before fatal shooting by police (listen)

Update: Jamesville teen killed in police shooting IDed

Jamesville, N.Y. — Police agencies responding to a mental health check of a 17-year-old Jamesville boy Thursday afternoon were warned that he may have an airsoft gun and had considered “suicide by cop” in the past.

At some point, police say, the teenager pulled out what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it at officers. The teen was killed after multiple officers from different agencies opened fire.

RELATED: 17-year-old fatally shot near Jamesville after pointing what police say appeared to be a gun at officers

The first police sent to the Apulia Road scene in Jamesville were told by a dispatcher that the teen was “emotionally disturbed.” The dispatchers told officers they didn’t know if he was armed, but that he might have an airgun.

“He does own an airsoft gun, unknown if it’s with him,” a 911 dispatcher said over the police radio at the time of the 12:25 p.m. incident. “He has threatened suicide by cops in the past.”

An airsoft gun, also called an airgun or a pellet gun, is used in simulated shooting sports. It often mimics the size and shape of a real gun. The exact make and model of the teen’s airsoft gun was not described in public police dispatch records.

Police have only said the teen was “armed with what appeared to be a handgun.”

It’s unclear what exactly police officers knew about the teen’s airgun at the time of the deadly encounter. Additional police kept arriving at the scene as the situation became more tense.

Personnel from three local agencies -- state police, county sheriff’s deputies and DeWitt police -- were all present at the time of the shooting itself. It’s unclear how many shots were fired, or by whom. Dozens of police officers responded to the incident.

The exact time of the shooting has also not been released. The first call about the incident was at about 12:25 p.m. A shooting was reported on the 911 center online records at 1:28 p.m., dispatching firefighters and an ambulance to the scene.

None of the police agencies involved have commented on the case Friday. Onondaga County Emergency Communications Commissioner Julie Corn, who oversees the 911 center, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The vague police account so far, paired with police scanner recordings, paint a picture of an incident that started off routine before escalating into a deadly encounter.

At 12:25 p.m. Thursday, an Onondaga County 911 dispatcher took a call for an emotionally disturbed person at 4372 Apulia Road, according to a recording of the dispatch.

A mother was asking for state police to help with her 17-year-old son who had driven off in a Ford Fusion and crashed into the mother’s car on the way out.

Members of an emergency psychiatric team from St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center had been at the house to help the teen, the mother told 911. But the teen took off.

He was last seen driving south on Apulia Road toward LaFayette, his mother told dispatchers.

As per protocol, the 911 dispatcher noted that there was no information on the teen’s intoxication or weapons. But, the dispatcher added, the teen owned the airsoft gun and had threatened suicide by cop in the past.

The dispatcher also told officers that the teen had a history of being armed and emotionally disturbed.

At some point, police say, the teen ran on foot after being confronted by officers.

What happened next has not been disclosed. A news release from all three police agencies jumps straight to the fatal moment:

“As officers approached the suspect, the suspect raised and pointed the weapon at the officers,” the release states. “The officers discharged their service weapons, striking the suspect, who was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

The teen’s alleged weapon will be key to the investigation going forward.

If the teen was considered armed, then that Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office would investigate his death. If the teen was unarmed -- or there was a “significant question” about whether he was armed -- then the state Attorney General’s Office would investigate.

A full day after the shooting, authorities still aren’t sure which way the case will go, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard at noon Friday. The DA declined further comment until the AG office decides whether it’s taking over the probe.

The AG confirmed that it is still looking into the case and hasn’t made a decision yet.

A prior police shooting in Syracuse in 2019 involved a 74-year-old man who pointed a BB gun at officers. The state Attorney General’s Office took over that case, finding the officers justified in their use of deadly force against Dwayne Watkins.

But the AG’s probe did fault the 911 center for rules that delayed getting crucial information to responding officers, including the fact that Watkins appeared to have a gun, until after officers arrived for what had appeared to be a medical call. (The root cause of the problems in the Watkins case were not present in the current Jamesville case.)

A Washington Post investigation in 2016 found that over a two-year period, police across the country had killed 86 people who appeared to be brandishing real guns -- but weren’t.

Staff writers Julie McMahon and Chris Libonati contributed to this report.

Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.

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