New Rochelle police shot a man Monday afternoon on Lincoln Avenue.
At around 4:30 p.m., officers received a call for a possible theft at a local store, police said in a press release distributed late Monday night. The New Rochelle Police Department also released bodycam footage from three officers showing their response at the scene.
The person shot has been identified as New Rochelle native Jarrell Garris, 38, said his father, Raymond Fowler, 58, who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, relaying information from family in New Rochelle. Garris is Black.
The responding officers saw the man, near the store, walking on Lincoln Avenue near North Avenue, police said. Video footage shows two officers approach him on the street, asking him about stolen food at a nearby store. He did not appear to respond.
Garris then crosses the street, with the two officers following him. A third officer shown further down the street also approaches him.
The video then shows Garris in a scuffle with the officers as they attempt to place him under arrest in the middle of the street. The male officer calls for a taser, the video shows, and a female officer is seen pulling out her taser.
Garris can then be seen reaching in the direction of one of the officer’s holstered firearms. The physical struggle causes Garris to topple over her, making it difficult to judge exactly what he may have been grabbing at.
In its press release, the police department said that Garris was indeed grabbing at the officer’s gun “in an attempt to remove it from the holster.” One of the officers is heard shouting in the video, “he’s got a gun. He’s got a gun.” The video provided by the Police Department ends before the shot is fired.
Garris has schizophrenia, father says
For less than a year, Garris has lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a sister, after moving from New Rochelle, his father said. He had gone to New York to pick up his 12-year-old son, who lives in Brooklyn. They were set to leave New York that evening for North Carolina.
Garris is being treated at Westchester Medical Center, where a sister is with him, Fowler said. Garris is on a respirator, he said.
Garris has schizophrenia, his father said, and had been contacted by New Rochelle police for wellness checks when he was living in the city. “My thing is they knew who he was, and then they know me as well,” Fowler said. “There’s no justification. She could have tased him.”
The incident is under investigation by the New York State Police and New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office. Kathy Gilwit, a city spokesperson, referred questions to the State Police.
The shooting occurred on Lincoln Avenue near St. Catherine’s A.M.E. Zion Church, which had police tape on the street into Monday evening. City Hall and the Police Department are located just around the corner.
Fowler, a New Rochelle native, grew up in the Hartley Homes, now called the Heritage Homes, around the corner from the church. His son grew up about seven minutes walking from the scene of the shooting.
Kwamain Dixon, a community advocate and recent City Council candidate, said the footage needed to be released immediately to provide transparency. “It’s better for the community to see for themselves as opposed to coming to their own conclusions,” he said.
Dixon pointed to the June 2020 shooting of Kamal Flowers, a 24-year-old Black man killed by New Rochelle police on Pierce Street, about a mile from where police shot Garris on Monday. The area where police shot Garris was in the Lincoln Avenue corridor, a historic African American community in New Rochelle. “It kind of raises the old wounds while everybody is embracing the new ones,” he said.
A New Rochelle police officer fatally shot Flowers after Flowers ran from police during a traffic stop. Police said Flowers pointed a gun at the officer before he was shot. James did not investigate the shooting, her office said then, because it did not fall under her jurisdiction. The state AG can investigate cases in which an unarmed civilian is killed by police. Later that year, a grand jury voted not to indict Officer Alec McKenna.