It’s impossible for Raymond Fowler to explain what it felt like to learn that a police officer shot his only son after he was accused of taking a few dollars worth of fruit, he said.
“Words cannot describe the moment when I heard what happened,” said Mr. Fowler. “Even now while we are talking, I feel like I am in a cloud. This is a very difficult challenge for me. “
The son of Mr. Fowler, Jarrell Garris, 37, was shot by police on July 3 in New Rochelle, NY, a suburb of New York City, following a report of a theft from a local grocery store, officials said. He was accused of eating some grapes and a banana and left without paying, the lawyer representing the family of Mr. Garris said.
He died at the hospital a week later, according to the state attorney’s office, which is investigating the shooting. The office investigates all incidents where a police officer causes death.
“It makes no sense,” said Mr. Fowler, who said his son had lived in the tight-knit New Rochelle community for more than 30 years and was known to many members of the police department. She added that she “absolutely” believes that racial prejudice contributed to the death of her son, who is Black.
The New Rochelle Police Department said Mr. Garris was shot when he tried to retrieve a gun from an officer’s holster. It released body camera footage showing the events leading up to the shooting but was cut off before it happened.
The department said the video was cut out of respect for his family.
But the family has led a chorus of calls from the community demanding the release of the remaining footage.
“The city of New Rochelle claims they released the videos transparently, but why don’t you release the whole video?” said William Wagstaff, a lawyer representing the family of Mr. Garris.
Mr. Garris, a New Rochelle native who recently moved to Greensboro, NC, was in town because she planned to pick up her 11-year-old son from the boy’s mother’s house and take him to home for the summer, said Mr. Fowler , 58, who currently lives in Raleigh, NC
Before 4:30 p.m. on July 3, a person who works at the grocery store, New Rochelle Farms, called the police and said that someone stole some fruit, according to a statement from the State Police and Mr. Wagstaff.
Officers Kari Bird and Gabrielle Chavarry and Detective Steven Conn responded, the statement said.
Officers Bird and Chavarry were the first to approach Mr. Garris on a street near a grocery store, body camera footage shows.
“We just called that you were at the store and you ate. Is that true, isn’t it?” asked one of the officers.
Mr. Garris did not respond and began to walk away, the footage shows.
Detective Conn arrived while Mr. Garris crossed the street, and when one of the other officers said that the grocery store was planning to file a lawsuit, he told Mr. Garris that he was arrested.
“What?” Mr. asked. Garris as Detective Conn begins handcuffing him.
Mr. Garris was visibly distressed, and the video showed him and the officers beginning to struggle.
At one point, one of the two officers who arrived first was heard saying, “Stop, Steve.”
Detective Conn yelled, “He’s got a gun,” and Mr. Garris held out his arm, but it was hard to tell what he was aiming for. Then the video ends.
Police did not say a gun was found at the scene, and Mr. Garris said he was unarmed.
State Police confirmed that Detective Conn fired one shot that struck Mr. Garris. Mr. Wagstaff said that Mr. Garris was shot in the neck.
He was taken to Westchester Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition for a week, police said, before he died on July 10.
The three officers have been placed on administrative leave, a city spokeswoman said.
Mr. Wagstaff, the family’s attorney, described the police response as an “overreaction” to an alleged theft worth several dollars. Attempts to reach the grocery store were unsuccessful.
“He must be hungry,” said Mr. Wagstaff. “There is no reason to put him in handcuffs.”
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, community members expressed outrage over the shooting, The Journal News reported.
Dan Miller, a doctor who lives in New Rochelle, said at the meeting that he often samples products at grocery stores.
“No one invited me on the road. No one threatened my life and no one shot at me,” said Mr. Miller, who is white, and the audience could be heard reacting. “I think we know why.”
Aisha Cook, the president of the New Rochelle branch of the NAACP, called for the release of full body camera footage and a full investigation of the three officers involved.
“Food insecurity is not a death sentence,” he said. “The police are not here to kill. They are not judge, jury and executioner.
Mr. Fowler, who like her son grew up in New Rochelle, said Mr. Garris has been diagnosed with schizophrenia but takes medication with minimal issues. She said her son has been doing well in recent years, and that he has a full-time job as a caregiver for the elderly and lives with a girlfriend.
He said some officers knew of his son’s diagnosis because he had called the department in the past to ask officers to check on him. He questioned why the responding officers did not seek help from mental health services on July 3.
For Mr. Fowler, Mr. Garris is the 8-month-old who took the laces of his father’s sneakers and used them to balance his first step. He would always be the teenager the neighbors called “CeeTwo,” the same nickname his father gave him when he was 17. and the New York Knicks.
“If you have the chance to meet my son, you will have no other choice but to love him,” said Mr. Fowler.
Susan C. Beachy contributed to the research.
