UTICA, N.Y. — A 13-year-old boy shot to death by police in upstate New York after he pointed what turned out to be a BB gun at officers is being laid to rest Saturday.
The funeral for Nyah Mway will take place at Friedel, Williams & Edmunds, a funeral home in Utica, in the morning, according to Jim Friedel, the home’s principal and funeral director. A ceremony will follow at a local cemetery.
Mway, whose family name is Nyah, was killed June 28 after Utica police say he ran from officers after being stopped on the street.
Body camera footage released by police shows officers scream “gun!” before one of them tackles Mway to the ground and punches him. Another officer opens fire as the two wrestle on the ground.
The teen was shot in the chest and died at the hospital. Police said they recovered a pellet gun resembling a Glock 17 from the scene of the shooting.
Mway was a refugee born in Myanmar and a member of the Karen ethnic minority who had just graduated from middle school.
His relatives and other members of the local Karen community have called for police to be held accountable, as the boy was already subdued and on the ground when he was shot.
The state attorney general’s office is investigating and the police officers involved have been placed on leave, as is protocol.