Attorney General releases video of Onondaga County deputy shooting 2 teens
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
UPDATE: This story was updated at 3:51p.m. on Tuesday, September 12th, 2023.
The New York State Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation released video Tuesday morning of an Onondaga County sheriff deputy shooting two teenagers who were fleeing in a car.
The deputy, John Rosello, killed two people, 17-year-old Dhal Apet and 15-year-old Lueth Mo, during the encounter on Sept. 6. The OSI is currently conducting an investigation into the incident.
The video, which was recorded by a civilian’s security camera, shows an Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office car ramming into the front of one of two vehicles that were parked in DeWitt. The van not blocked in by the deputy was able to flee from the lot near Midler Meadows Mobile Home Park, according to the video.
The other car attempted to reverse into the trees and pull forward to drive away. The deputy stepped back and moved out of the way of the car as he pointed his gun at it, according to the video. It is not clear from the video when the officer fired his gun. Like the van, the car was also able to flee.
Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley previously said that the car was moving “fast enough to run someone over and kill them.” The sheriff’s office also confirmed that both the officer’s body cam and dash cam were not turned on throughout the altercation.
“It is clear from the footage that the officer needlessly escalated to fatal force, and did so with a rapidity that is too readily deployed against young Black New Yorkers,” wrote Deka Dancil, a field director for the NYCLU, in a press release Tuesday.
In the statement, the NYCLU called for the Attorney General’s OSI to investigate the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office’s failure to record portions of the interaction and to release all body-worn camera footage.
The deputy arrived on the scene responding to reported suspicious vehicle activity. Prior to the call, the vehicles were stolen and its occupants were linked to burglaries at two local smoke shops.
