A New York City corrections officer was charged Thursday with murder in the deadly shooting hours earlier of an 18-year-old man in the Bronx, police said, as investigators investigated whether a toy gun found at the scene had played a role in the killing.
The officer charged in the case, Dion Middleton, was off duty when he shot the victim, Raymond Chaluisant, in the face at the intersection of the Cross Bronx Expressway and Morris Avenue around 1:35 a.m., police said.
Chaluisant was in a friend’s car on his way to a hospital when officers responding to a 911 call found him about half a mile from the shooting scene, police said. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital and pronounced dead there, police said.
Agent Middleton, 45, was taken into custody later in the day at the Correction Department shooting range, where he works, after investigators searched video footage from surveillance cameras in the area where the shooting took place, officials said.
In addition to the murder count, Officer Middleton, who joined the department in January 2013, is charged with manslaughter and criminal weapons possession, officials said. It was not clear whether he had a lawyer. A spokesman for his union, the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Louis A. Molina, the city’s corrections officer, said in a statement that the “very serious charges” against Agent Middleton “do not in any way reflect the agents who work every day to keep our city safe.”
“This officer will be immediately suspended without pay, and if the allegations are true, he will face the full consequences of the law and be fired,” added Mr Molina.
A spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the case.
Police did not give a motive for the crime, but said a so-called gel blaster had been found at the scene. There was no evidence Thursday night that Mr Chaluisant had shot or even aimed the device at anyone, officials said.
A gel blaster is a type of toy gun that shoots gel beads from water. Such weapons are often used in military-type shooting games and are generally considered safer than so-called airsoft guns, which serve a similar purpose but fire plastic pellets.
Shortly after announcing Agent Middleton’s arrest, the Police Public Information Unit posted a… message on Twitter noting that gel blasters are illegal in New York City.
“Bead blasters shoot gel water beads propelled by a spring-loaded air pump, turning them into an air rifle,” the post reads. “Airguns are an offense in NYC and are illegal to own. Violators in possession of these will receive a criminal subpoena.”
A police spokesman said the report was prompted not specifically by Chaluisant’s murder, but by several recent episodes in the city involving water bead weapons.
Law enforcement agencies in other states have warned that the use of such devices could lead to deadly violence. In at least one case, the grim prediction has come true.
The Akron Beacon Journal reported last month that Ohio officials said a 17-year-old boy had been killed there in an attack that began after he and several friends fired a water pearl pistol at a group playing basketball near a school.
