Hispanic died shot by NYPD: New York mayor sympathizes with family and police officers
Joel Capellán, a 29-year-old man, was shot to death by NYPD agents in a confusing incident early Sunday morning in Inwood, Upper Manhattan, NYC.
According to the NYPD, officers shot Chaplain to death after he ignored repeated orders to drop his weapon. But his family was heartbroken and he has many questions after his death.
“Her smile, when she walked into a room, would light up the whole world. She was so cool,” she told CBS2 Kayla Capellán, her sister.
In the NYPD report, a lieutenant and three officers assigned to the neighborhood security team were approaching the intersection of Nagle Avenue and Dyckman Street around 3 a.m. Sunday when they saw a dispute.
“They observed a man with a gun in his hand fighting among the group. The officers get out of their vehicle, command the person to drop the firearm. They yell repeated orders and then, at some point, the officers discharge their weapons,” summed up NYPD patrol chief Jeffrey Maddrey.
Apparently the men involved left a club and exchanged words. Chaplain allegedly drew his pistol and whipped another man. The gun went off and that man was grazed in the head by a bullet. Then the policemen arrived.
“I don’t have a gun, my son didn’t have a gun. Where is the ballistics that says that gun belonged to him? said Jeni Rodríguez, Capellán’s mother.
Police said a weapon was recovered at the scene. Some of the dispute appeared to be caught on camera. The alcalde Eric Adams He said he reviewed the recordings of the incident.
“The officers repeatedly said ‘Drop the gun,’” Adams said. “My heart goes out to the family members of the youth involved and my heart goes out to the police officers.”
Police sources said that Chaplain had eight prior arrests and was on probation for criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Rodríguez said that his son He was a good person and he was changing his life, which was echoed by those who gathered Monday at a memorial for Chaplain.
