The emotional parents of a Queens man who was shot and killed in front of them by police officers early on Sunday morning challenged the NYPD’s narrative of the deadly encounter on Monday.
Kevin Fray and Sheanette Dunbar, the parents of Chez Fray, joined civil rights leader Rev. Kevin McCall outside of the 101st Precinct stationhouse in Far Rockaway on the afternoon of Dec. 22. Dunbar clung to McCall and howled in pain, Fray gritted his teeth and sobbed uncontrollably.
A day earlier, Chez Fray had been shot and killed at their home by two female NYPD officers at around 12:25 a.m. on Sunday inside of 1170 Nameoke St. The older Fray said he called cops for help after his son had smoked weed and was acting erratically. Police say the parents met the officers outside and entered the apartment together, but the 29-year-old son was not inside.
“As the officers and the parents were exiting the apartment, the male was observed in the hallway outside of the apartment with a boxcutter in his hand,” NYPD Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera explained on Sunday. “The officers gave multiple verbal commands to the male to drop the weapon as they attempted to deescalate the situation, the male did not comply with the demands to drop the weapon.”
Rivera added that the father retreated behind the cops as the son charged at them with the weapon. While one cop discharged their taser, the second immediately opened fire, killing him.
However, both of his parents say Rivera’s account was untrue. According to McCall, the Frays never had an altercation in the hallway just prior to the deadly shooting.
“They did not have an altercation at all in the hallway. It did not happen. He embraced his son. When he saw his son, he told him he loved him,” McCall said. “There was no altercation that happened inside the hallway.”
The family also claimed that he never charged at them with the weapon that they say he was using to cut marijuana. In response, the NYPD referred to amNewYork Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera’s original comments in which he stated that Fray charged at the officers.
Nevertheless, the parents said Monday that one of the cops at the scene on Sunday morning questioned the other after opening fire.
“The police officer told her partner: ‘Why did you shoot him?’ We are calling on the Attorney General Letitia James to open up an immediate investigation regarding what happened,” McCall said. “She told her partner, don’t shoot and the partner did not listen.”
Following the shooting, Kevin Fray was arrested and taken into custody before ultimately being released. Police did not comment on why he was cuffed.
McCall is demanding the police release the body camera footage to showcase exactly what took place.
Sources within the Attorney General’s office say that they are conducting a preliminary assessment of the matter.
As McCall spoke, both parents wept profusely. The surviving Fray gripped onto the metal bars of a construction shed and screamed in sorrow.
“I begged her: please don’t kill my only child,” Dunbar wailed. I begged her, I said don’t shoot. Oh, Jesus!”
