An Albany Police officer shot an unarmed man Sunday morning in the city's South End neighborhood.
Albany Police have identified the man they say was shot by an officer Sunday morning. Police Chief Brendan Cox says officers responded to reports of a man with a gun at 150 Third Ave shortly before 8 a.m. He says 39-year-old Luis Rivera briefly came outside, appearing to be in a "very agitated manner" and got into a "shooter stance." Believing Rivera had a handgun, Officer Daniel Blossom fired a single round from a department issued shotgun.
"That round did not initially strike Mr. Rivera," said Cox. "Mr. Rivera then moved himself further down the sidewalk in front of that apartment. The officer, he reassessed, as did the other officers, and Mr. Rivera again, came into his shooter stance, released his hands into what appeared to be like he was going to shoot the officers. The officers had also secured the victims at that moment, and the officer fired one more round from the shotgun, this time striking Mr. Rivera in the upper thigh area."
Police say a woman and two children at the residence were not harmed.
Rivera was treated and brought to Albany Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Brief moments of body camera video have been released.
Albany Center For Law and Justice director of operations Ta-Sean Murdock says he's already spoken with Cox.
"The Center is going to be looking at more video here sometime this week, hopefully with us being able to get a little bit more of an understanding of what took place. As you know, the Center continues to call for accountability and transparency in incidences like these," Murdock said.
Albany Community Police Review Board Investigative Chair John Levendosky says the panel has already begun its investigation of the shooting.
"We were contacted early Sunday morning by Albany’s Office of Professional Standards, and we were working with them to coordinate, with getting information and starting the investigation process," said Levendosky. "Our contracted investigators are also involved. They're involved since yesterday’s occurrence. So we're just going to move forward, as we do with all police shootings, investigating objectively and transparently as possible, so the community has an outlet to have incidents such as this be investigated, not just by uniformed individuals, but also a civilian body that is in charge of the other site and connected to the community."
Levendosky says the matter will be discussed at this Thursday's board meeting.
Tom Hoey of the 15th ward chairs the Common Council's Public Safety Committee.
"The guy was distraught. Now, if we had some kind of... one of the things we're looking at, is having somebody more on like the social service side, to accompany police. Would that have helped? I don't know. But again, I'm judging ahead, and I don't have all the facts,"Hoey said, adding Cox plans to speak with panel during tonight's meeting.
Cox says the Office of Professional Standards will conduct an internal investigation and be in touch with the State Attorney General's office, per state law, to see if it will review the case for use of force.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General Tish James says since the shooting was not fatal, it does not automatically go to her office.
In addition to a first-degree attempted assault charge, Rivera faces second-degree criminal weapon possession and menacing charges as well as two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Rivera, who is on federal probation for a previous gun charge, is being represented by the public defender's office.
