Outside the home of Salvatore Del Rosario, stands an informal memorial with candles, flowers, and a mural depicting the deceased man, who was shoot twice, once in the head and once in the chest by police officers.
Mr Rosario was on medication due to a mental illness and had a wont of avoiding prescribed medications; when he refused to take his medication, his family would call 911 and request an ambulance, which would eventually arrive and take the father of 3 to St. Joesph Medical Center and the medications would be administered there. But this time, the ambulance did not arrive, and instead 2 police officers arrived on the scene.
To avoid taking his medication Mr Rosario locked himself in the bathroom with a hammer in hand. When police arrived, they attempted to get the mentally ill man to hospital, and to do that they had to take him out of the bathroom. They broke down the bathroom door, despite being told the man inside did not speak English — the victim immigrated from Dominican Republic less than a year ago — and being told by his son not to break the door down and to leave the apartment. Both officers have been put on paid administrative after the incident.
When the door was down, police found a man with a hammer in his hand, at which point it is speculated the man threatened or the officers felt threatened by the weapon-wielding man, and it was at this point that two shots were fired.
When we asked Mr Rosario’s 15 year old son about the incident, he, after a long pause and with sadness in his eyes, said, “it’s horrible [what happened]“.
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