The New York Police Department has finally apologized after wrongly declaring a 15-year-old male wanted in connection with a fatal shooting incident that occurred during a Labor Day parade in Brooklyn.
Per The Associated Press, the 15-year-old wrongly accused in the fatal shooting was identified as Camden Lee. The apology from the department came almost five months after the high school sophomore was wrongly linked to the shooting. The NYPD, which shared Lee’s photos on social media, said it “mistakenly stated that he was wanted” for the fatal September incident.
“The NYPD should have immediately corrected this misstatement,” the department’s new chief spokesperson, Delaney Kempner, said. “We apologize for the error and will continue to seek justice for the victims of this shooting.”
RELATED STORIES
Though the NYPD later realized its mistake in the wake of the fatal shooting, the department failed to retract its initial claim. Lee’s family also begged the department to clarify its initial claim, but it fell on deaf ears. The false accusation leveled against the teen resulted in him receiving death threats.
Lee said he and a teammate went to the parade after football practice, but gunshots rang out not too long after the pair got to the scene of the incident. Lee’s teammate was among four victims who sustained injuries from the fatal shooting. The victim, who was fatally shot, was identified as 25-year-old Denzel Chan, The Associated Press reported.
Authorities ultimately accused Lee of being behind the shooting and took to Instagram and X to circulate his photo. And though the NYPD eventually admitted it had erred behind closed doors, news outlets did not stop sharing the image the NYPD sent to them.
Authorities are yet to solve the case. The NYPD in its recent statement identified the teen as a “person of interest,” stating that he was “on the scene before, during, and after the incident.”
The West Indian American Day Parade was attended by thousands of people including Lee. But the NYPD failed to explain why it linked the teen to the shooting and why it did not move to swiftly rectify its error.
“Even in their apology, they’re painting him with a brush of culpability to cover their mistake,” Wylie Stecklow, an attorney for Lee’s family, said. “They’re downplaying what they did and not owning up to the fact that they put him in harm’s way.”
Lee’s mother, Chee Chee Brock, also responded to the NYPD’s apology, saying that it was “superficial.” She additionally asked why the recent statement was not circulated at an earlier time. Brock also stated that no NYPD official had contacted their family personally to address the mistake.
“This could’ve been done in September after we had the meeting,” Brock said. “They don’t understand the damage that it caused.”
Days after the circulation of Lee’s photos across social media, an attorney for his family disclosed that the teen and homicide detectives had a meeting where he was made aware that he had not been named as a suspect in the fatal shooting, The Associated Press reported. He also was told they just wanted to question him as he was a witness in the shooting.
The death threats have resulted in Lee’s family keeping out of the public eye. The teen has also moved from the city, with his education being negatively affected.
“It takes me to a dark place,” said Lee. “I don’t feel like myself anymore. I don’t have the opportunity to explain my side of the story. Everyone is so fixed on this one image of me: murderer.”
