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Family says Queens man was in crisis when NYPD fatally shot him
By
Charles Lane
Published Dec 23, 2025
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By
Charles Lane
Published Dec 23, 2025
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The family of a Queens man killed by NYPD officers on Sunday says he was acting erratically after smoking marijuana and they hoped police would talk to him, not shoot him.
Chaz Fray, 29, was fatally shot inside his Far Rockaway apartment building after his father called 911, hoping officers would help transport his son to a hospital, according to the Rev. Kevin McCall, a representative for the family.
"He called police to be able to have them talk to his son, not kill his son," McCall said.
McCall said Fray had smoked “bad marijuana” and was hallucinating, acting erratically and burning candles. He had no history of mental health issues or violence, McCall added, he “just wasn’t acting himself.”
Kevin Fray met two officers outside the building at 1170 Nameoke St. and told them his son needed help, McCall said. The father then led officers upstairs, where Chaz was holding a box cutter, he said.
“His father just immediately hugged him and said, ‘Chaz, they're here to help you,’” McCall said.
Officers spotted the box cutter and told the father to move away, he said. Once he did, one officer discharged a Taser and the other immediately fired her weapon, according to McCall.
“I said don't shoot him,” Kevin Fray said at a press conference Monday, standing next to the man's distraught mother.
The family disputes the NYPD’s account that Fray charged at officers. But a department spokesperson reiterated Monday what Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera said shortly after the shooting: that officers gave “numerous verbal commands” to drop the weapon and that Fray “proceeded to charge towards the officers.”
One officer deployed a Taser and the other fired her weapon, striking Fray, according to officials. He was taken by EMS to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
After the shooting, police arrested Kevin Fray and held him at a precinct for about five hours, according to McCall. The NYPD has not explained why the father was detained or what, if any, charges he may face.
The incident renewed questions about whether police are the right responders to mental health crises.
Luke Sikinyi, vice president of public policy at the Alliance for Rights and Recovery, said the outcome could have been different if trained mental health professionals, and not armed officers, had responded.
“I do believe that we could have seen a much different outcome if a team like that had responded rather than just police,” Sikinyi said. “Especially when the family is calling for someone to really just come and talk to them.”
Sikinyi pointed to proposals like Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's planned Department of Community Safety, which would dispatch mental health experts to some 911 calls instead of police. He also called for expanding the city’s B-HEARD program to operate 24/7 across all five boroughs.
“The goals of Mamdani's community safety department are quite clear,” Sikinyi said, “and that is to reduce the use of law enforcement in calls that law enforcement don't need to be there.”
Tagged
public safety
queens
Charles Lane
Charles is a Day-of reporter focused on breaking news and enterprise. He’s very friendly and can be reached at [email protected], or more securely on whatsapp/signal 631-295-6715
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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